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UELAHD'SIAKr':":.
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER,
C(ie jfatlier oC Slmerfcan i^lanulactuves.
CONNICTKD WITH A
fflSTORY OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS
OP THE
COTTON MANUFACTURE
IN
t
ENGLAND AND AMERICA.
, • • • - •
* • -
• • • • » »
WITH EBMAEIU ON THK • " •
■ *
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES IN THE UNlVi91>: 8TA.YES.
BY GEORGE S. WHITE.
« •
• •••
" Facts truly suited are the brut applanKS or mo«t laming rcproaclieH."
" Tlifj history of the origin and development or progruM of every subject is of great importance,
because every thing relating to it can then be shown concentrated, as it were in a mirror, be
clearly seen, and correctly Judged of**
SECOND EDITION.
PHILADELPHIA:
PRINTED AT NO. 46, CARPENTER STREET.
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EiTTEiiKD, according to the act of congress, in the year 1833, by Cicoboe S. Wiiin.,
in the clerk^s office of the dibtrict of Connecticut.
ADVERTISEMENT.
Being always convinced that without an investigation of the
early state and progress of manufactures in Philadelphia, my
work would be very imperfect, I resolved on publishing the volume
in this city, expecting that, during my residence for the necessary
attention to the printing, I should be able to examine the evidences
of its early attention to manufactures. But I was not aware of
the amount of interest on this subject, which had been manifested
in Pennsylvania, from its early settlement. As an entire stranger
in the city, I should have been much cramped in my investigations,
had it not been for the liberal assistance afforded me by Dr. Mease,
who entered into my design with {^'dour, and with enthusiastic
patriotism. I am especially indebted to that gentleman, for open-
ing to me avenues of information, which have enabled me to
obtain as much useful matter as would of itself fill a volume : —
my limits oblige me to make a selection. But I thus publicly ex-
press my obligations to Dr. Mease for the constant and unwearied
pains he took to afford me every facility for the attainment of my
object, which, as I had no personal claims on his attention must
have arisen in the deep interest he took in the subject. I fear that
I have presumed on his goodness, and intruded on time which
would otherwise have been devoted to a valuable work that he
is preparing for the press, and thereby retard a publication
anxiously expected by the citizens of Pennsylvania : in so doing
I ought not only to apologise to him, but to ask pardon of the
public, considering that he is himself engaged in preparing for the
press a work on the Geography and Statistics of Pennsylvania.
To other gentlemen of this &voured city, I return thanks, with-
out taking the liberty of designating them ; which, however, if I
felt authorised to do, their names would add greatly to the re-
spectability of my work.
Philadelphia, April 18/A, 1836.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Preface , . . . . 9
Introduction. 17
Chap. I.— Memoir of Slaier, from his birth to his leaving England. 29
Biography of Arkwright and Strutt 43
Chap. II. — The State of Manufactures previous to 1790. . . .47
Samuel Wetherill's Advertisement in Philadelphia, of the first Manu-
facture of Jeans, Fustians, &c. 1782. . . . . 48
Chap. III.— From Samuel Slater's leaving England, to his marriage with
Hannah Wilkinson of North Providence, R. I. . . . 71
Agreement of Copartnership 74
Mr. Slater's Introduction of the Arkwright Machinery. . 83
Carders and Spinners' Time List. Dec. 1790 99
Chap. IV. — Moral Influence of Manufactures. .... 113
Chap. V. — Value and Uses of Property. 139
Chap. VI. — The Extension of the Cotton Business. . . 183
Chap. VII. — Miscellaneous Documents. 285
Chap. VIII. — Extracts from the Spinning Master's Assistant. . 305
Article on Wages 331
Chap. IX.— Growth of Cotton 345
Chap. X. — Advancement of Machinery. 385
Bleaching and Calendering. 390
Chap. XL— Calico Printing 395
Chap. XIL— Silk Machinery 405
Dyeing of Cotton and Silk 416
AppENnix. 421
LIST OP ENGRAVINGS.
PAGE.
Frontiapiece. — Portrait of Slater.
View of Helper 29
Fac-simile of Mr. Slater's lodenture 33
Portrait of Jedediah Strutt 43
RepresentatioDS of Carding, Roving, Drawing, and Spinning, as intro-
duced by S. Slater 79
View of Pawtucket. Ill
View of Webster. 183
Mule Spinning. . 290
Plan of a Factory. 305
Throstle Frame, &c 307
Dresser. .'.... 309
Powei Loom. 385
Calico Printing 395
Tench Coxe 345
Representations of Silkworms 405
Silk Machinery 409
Silk Loom. 416
Other Machinery. ib.
Profile of Samuel Welherill. 421
DEDICATION.
TO ANDREW JACKSON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Sir,
Independence is the pride and the boast of an American,
and when he contemplates his country, anticipating its glorious
destiny, he may well indulge in this exultation. The natural re-
sources of this republic — its enterprise — its skill — and its industry,
can give it something of independence besides the name.
A work, having for its objects the development of these re-
sources — the application of this industry — the reward of this
enterprise, should find in some one a patron.
To the President of the United States, elevated by his position
above all sectional preferences, public good being his aim, and
national prosperity being his strong desire, I have presumed, upon
due consideration, to dedicate this work : and shall continue to do
so with my succeeding volumes, whatever distinguished indi-
vidual may be occupying that high station.
I have the honour to be with much respect,
Your obedient servant,
The -Author.
PREFACE.
In want of facts, it appears to have been a common propensity
of our race to resort to fiction. The ancients, thus influenced,
were prone to recur to fabulous ancestry, and to attribute all their
improvements and inventions to deified powers. So, instead of
awarding to merit its due, and creating a spirit of enquiry and
emulation, all their arts were gratuitously attributed to their fabled
Apollo. At this distant period of the world we can perceive at
once, that this was done by a prevailing ignorance and through a
defect of a suitable mecms for conveying useful and permanent
information.
We know enough of human nature to conclude that it will be
nearly the same under similar oircumstcmces, and that so far as it
is acted upon by them, similar results may be expected from similar
causes.*
* " The Rhode Island papers anaounce the death, on Monday last, of
Samuel Slater, Esq, — long known as one of the most enterprising and
respected citizens of that state, and as the father of the cotton manufacturing
business in this country. The first cotton-mill built in the United States was
erected by him, in Pawtucket, and was yet in operation at the time of our last
visit There is a curious anecdote, connected with the original machinery of
this factory, which, as it is strictly true, we will relate for the edification of
Doctors Abercrombie and Macnish, and other enquirers into the philosophy of
dreams. Mr. Slater was an ingenious mechanist, and all the machinery was
constructed under his immediate direction. Of course, in the earliest in-
fancy of the business, and before the machinery to be constructed was
itself thoroughly understood, or the means for making it as ample as could
have been desiied, imperfections to a greater or less extent were to be
anticipated. At length, however, the work was complete, and high were the
hopes of the artist and his employers. All was ready, but the machinery
would not move, or at least it would not move as intended, or to any purpose.
1
10 PREFACE.
Ignorance and superstition produce precisely the same dark and
dangerous disguises and consequences, in our day, as they did
anciently.
With the aid of letters, and every facility for printing, as yet
not a single publication has been presented to the American pub-
lic to give an account, and perpetuate the rise and progress, of the
cotton and other manufactures in this country.
To such an extent have they advanced and probably will
advance, without correct information the liability is, for the whole
account of their rise and progress at some future period to run
into fiction and fable ; and the man who was most instrumental
in introducing them, instead of being viewed as a plain practical
mechanic, using honest means for his own benefit, and at the
same time promoting the best interests of this country, to be
ranked among fictitious characters, and to have his name and
&me some way mysteriously associated with the business which
he has permanently established.
Information is surely needed on these points, and this is the
author's apology for collecting, compiling, and presenting to the
public, a work, including the Memoir of Samuel Slater, and giving
a general account of the rise and progress of manufactures in this
country. In going into this unoccupied field much labour was
requisite to collect materials. They have been obtained from a
variety of sources, all of which the author wishes to acknowledge
with due deference.
General credit is due to the follpwing writers: — Hamilton's Re-
port to Congress, 1790 ; Niles's Register ; Edinburgh Encyclopedia ;
The disappointment was great, and the now deceased mechanist was in great
perplexity. Day after day did he labour to discover, that he might remedy
the defect — ^but in vain. But what he could not discover waking was
revealed to him in his sleep.
" It was perfectly natural that the subject which engrossed all his thoughts
by day, should be dancing through his uncurbed imagination by night, and
it so happened that on one occasion, having fallen iiito slumber with all the
shaAs and wheels of his mill whirling in his mind with the complexity of
Ezekiel's vision, he dreamed of the absence of an essential band upon one
of the wheels. The dream was fresh in his mind on the following morning,
and repairing bright and early to his works, he in an instant detected the de-
ficiency !
<< The revelation was true, and in a few hours afterwards, the machinery
was in full and successful operation. Such is one feature in the history of
American manufactures. The machinist has since led an active and useful
life— sustaining in all the relations of society an unblemished reputation." —
Com. Advertiaer,
PREFACE. 11
Baines's History of the Cotton Manufactures ; <' Spinning Master's
Assistant ;" Results of Machinery ; Babbage's Economy of Manu-
actures ; History of Derbyshire ; Zee. Allen on Mechanics, and
his Practical Tourist : and Ure's Philosophy of Manufactures.
To others I am indebted for very important assistance and en-
couragement, whose names I do not feel at liberty to publish ; but
the impression of their kindness is recorded on a tablet that but
one event can erase.
With all the help afforded me, I have considered it little short
of presumption, for one, whose studies have been so devoted to
another department, to attempt mechanics. I have been led into
the subject gradually and accidentally ; at first I only intended a
memoir of my friend ; but finding his whole life so connected with
manufiictures, it became necessary that I should have a general
knowledge of the subject. Those whose opinions had weight
with me, said, the public needed an historical essay on the rise and
progress of manu&ctures ; at last a volume is produced. Whether
the public will receive my labours in good part, remains to be
proved.
The difficulty of understanding the processes of manufactures,
has unfortunately been greatly overrated. To examine them with
the eye of a manufacturer, so as to be able to direct others to
repeat them, does imdoubtedly require much skill and previous ac-
quaintance with the subject; but merely to apprehend their general
principles and mutual relations, is within the power of almost
every person possessing a tolerable education. Those who possess
rank in a manufacturing country can scarcely be excused if they
are entirely ignorant of principles whose developement has pro-
duced its greatness. The possessors of wealth can scarcely be
indifferent to processes which nearly or remotely have been the
fertile source of their possessions. Those who enjoy leisure can
scarcely find a more interesting and instructive pursuit than the
examination of the workshops of their own country, which con-
tain within them a rich mine of knowledge, too generally neglect-
ed by the wealthier classes.
The more knowledge is accumulated and perfected, the more
easily it is acquired and recollected. I find this to be the case in
the study of mechanics ; what appeared complex and obscure to me
at first, now appears pleasing and easy to be understood. The
subject is not so inexplicable as many imagine.
Arnott says : " The laws of physics have an influence so
•extensive, that it need not excite surprise that all classes of
iK>ciety are at last discovering the deep interest they have to
12 PRBFACB.
understand them. The lawyer finds that in many of the causes
tried in his courts, an appeal must be made to physics, — as in the
cases of disputed inventions : accidents in navigation, or among
carriages, steam engines, and machines generally: questions
arising out of the agency of winds, rains, water currents, &c.
The statesman is constantly listening to discussions respecting
bridges, roads, canals, docks, and mechanical industry of the
nation. The clergyman finds ranged among the beauties of na-
ture, the most intelligible and striking proofs of God's wisdom and
goodness : — the sailor in his ship has to deal with one of the most
admirable machines in existence : soldiers, in using their projec-
tiles, in marching where rivers have to be crossed, woods to be
cut down, roads to be made, towns to be besieged, &c., are trust-
ing chiefly to their knowledge of physics : the land-owner, in
making improvements on his estates, building, draining, irrigating,
road making, &c. The farmer equally in these particulars, and
in all the machinery of agriculture : the manufacturer of course ;
the merchant who selects and distributes over the world the pro-
ducts of manu&cturing industry — all are interested in physics ;
then also the. man of letters, that he may not, in drawing illustra-
tions from the material world, repeat the scientific heresies and
absurdities, which have heretofore prevailed. It is for such reasons,
that natural philosophy is becoming daily more and more a part
of common education. In our cities now, and even in an ordinary
dwelling house, men are surrounded by prodigies of mechanic art,
and cannot submit to use these, as regardless of how they are pro-
duced, as a horse is regardless of how the corn falls into his manger.
A general diffusion of knowledge, owing greatly to the increased
commercial intercourse of nations, and therefore to the improve-
ments in the physical departments of astronomy, navigation, &c.,
is changing every where the condition of man, and elevating the
human character in all ranks of society."
It is my design to make this work permanently interesting and
valuable, and render it subservient to the cause of domestic
industry. I have raised an argument in favour of the immense
importance of manufacturing establishments of every description ;
and I think the work is calculated to promote a patriotic attention
to the general enterprise and prosperity of the country.
The following remarks, first made in reference to Eklmund Burke,
are not inapplicable to one who was his great admirer : —
" Few things interest the curiosity of mankind more, or prove
80 instructive in themselves, as to trace the progress of a powerful
mind, by the honourable exertion of its native energies, rising, in
PREFACE. 13
the teeth of difficulties, from a very private condition to important
standing in society, with power to influence the destiny of nations.
Such a person, as sprung not from the privileged few, but from
among the mass of the people, we feel to be one of ourselves.
Our sympathies go along with him in his career. The young ,
imagine that it may possibly be their own case ; the old, that with
a little more of the favour of fortune it might have been theirs ;
and, at any rate, we are anxious to ascertain the causes of his
superiority, to treasure up his experience, to profit by what he ex-
perienced to be useful, to avoid what he found to be disadvantage-
ous. And the lesson becomes doubly instructive to that large
class of society who are bom to be the architects of their own
fortune ; when it impresses the great moral truth, that natural
endowments, however great, receive their highest polish and power,
their only secure reward, from diligent study — from continued,
unwearied application : a plain, homely faculty, withinthe reach of
all men, one which is certain to wear well, and whose fruits bear
testimony to the industry of the possessor, and to the intrinsic
value of the possession."
Should the present attempt enable the citizens of the United
States to appreciate more justly the powers of one to whom this
country is under very important obligations, the writer will not
deem his labour misapplied. His testimony at least is impartial.
He has no party purpose to answer, no influence to court, no
interest to push ; except it be the common interest felt by every
generous mind, of rendering to a distinguished and deserving
character those honours which are its due.*
The great importance of manufactures, is exciting a vast in-
terest in England, and on the continent of Europe ; this year has
produced valuable publications in this new department of litera-
ture, and a series of volumes are promised by Dr. Ure, the author
of the Philosophy of Manufactures. France is alive to the all
absorbing subject, which they perceive has given England a pre-
eminence among the nations of the earth; the comparative
advantages between the two nations are nicely drawn, but in view
of these, England boasts that she shall be able to maintain her
superiority, against France and the world.
* At Grand Cairo in Egypt, they have such a profound respect to new
inventions, that whoever is the discoverer of any new art or invention is im-
mediately clad in cloth of gold, and carried in triumph throughout the whole
city, with trumpets and other musical instruments playing before him, and
presented to every shop to receive the joyful acclamations and generous
presents of his fellow citizens.
14 PREFACE.
Will any dne. with the whole of this absorbing topic before
him, doubt, whether England could have advanced, and gained
ground against the nations on the continent which had long been
superior to her, without the cherishing protection and patronage
which has been carefully granted to every branch of her trade and
commerce ? Those who are well informed on this subject, can
have no remaining doubts. Home manufactures, in order to their
existence and perfection, must be protected — either by prohibitory
duties, or by a preference and patronage of the people ; the latter
mode is the most effectual and the most advisable, in the present
state of American finances. And what American, who feels the
importance attached to the growing interest of the United States,
who will not exercise patriotism enough, so far to prefer our own
nfianufactures as to render us entirely independent of Europe in
any emergency ? Are we for ever to be the dupes of European
influence, and the fantastic vagaries of their customs and fashions,
ever varying, for the express purpose of making merchandise of
our weakness and vanity, and the faculty of imitation? Let us
rather assume a national character, a national costume. If we are
to be guided by fashion, let that fashion be American ; the pro-
duce of American soil, of American invention and skill, and of
American industry and enterprise. The day is past and gone,
when any of our citizens will think it best to have our work-shops
in Europe ; indeed America will soon learn the extent of her re-
sources to be such, as to render her independent of the old world,
and thus establish our independence on a basis that can neither
be shaken by the implements of war, nor by the stratagems of
peace. For it is now avowed that those strifes are in full opera-
tion, aiming at imiversal conquest. A conquest made of our
resources, rendering our labour and skill and raw materials in-
effective, would effectually impoverish and ruin us as a people,
making us the di|pes of superior energy and capital. America
is already alive to those circumstances, but she must never
be off her watch-tower — for the enemy is ever on the alert,
making a breach at every weak point, and taking advantage of
our inadvertence and inactivity.
But if Americans make good use of their natural capabilities,
and take advantage of their free institutions, they may cope with
the whole world, in deriving the benefits of skill and enterprise ;
and thus establish on a permanent basis, such establishments of
industry and wealth as shall render America independent of the
world.
'^ A machine, receiving at different times and from many hands,
PREFACE. 15
new combinations and improvements, and becoming at last of
signal benefit to mankind, may be compared to a rivulet swelled
in its course by tributary streams, until it rolls along, a majestic
river, enriching in its progress provinces and kingdoms. In re-
tracing the current, too, from where it mingles with the ocean,
the pretensions of even ample subsidiary streams are merged in
our admiration of the master flood, glorying, as it were, in its ex-
pansion. But as we continue to ascend, those waters which,
nearer the sea, would have been disregarded as unimportant, begin
to rival in magnitude, and divide our attention with, the parent
stream ; until at length, on our approaching the fountains of the
river, it appears trickling from the rock, or oozing from among the
flowers of the valley. So also, in developing the rise of a machine,
a coarse instrument, or a toy, may be recognised as the germ of
that production of mechanical genius, whose power and useful-
ness have stimulated our curiosity to mark its changes, and to
trace its origin. And the same feeling of reverential gratitude,
which attached hoUness to the spots whence mighty rivers sprung,
also clothed with divinity, and raised altars in honour of, the in-
ventors of the saw, the plough, the potter's wheel, and the loom.
To those who are familiar with modem machinery, the construc-
tion of these implements may appear to have conferred but slight
claim to the reverence in which their authors were held in ancient
times, yet, artless as they seem, their use first raised man above
the beasts of the field; and, by incalculably diminishing the sum
of human labour, added equally to the power and enjoyment of
the barbarous tribes of those ages to which their discovery is
referred. In their rudest* form, they are nearly all the mechanical
aids that were necessary for the wants of nations, of shepherds
and of husbandmen. For refinement, in the formation of even
these simple contrivances, or for the invention and use of more
complex mechanism, we must look to communities that have
made considerable advances in the career of civilisation ; to those
regions where men, congregating in large masses, create numerous
artificial wants, and, by this peculiarity in their social position,
excite the natural rivalry of individuals to devise expedients to
remove them. Accordingly it is found, that the dense population
of some eastern countries, had there produced a state of society
eminently calculated to call forth the resources of inventive power.
From a remote period, the great wealth of the Egyptians, particu-
larly, had generated a taste for luxurious magnificence, which that
people early displayed in the erection of colossal and sumptuous
buildings. The remains of their vast pyramids, temples, and
16 PREFACE.
palaces, evince a skilful practice of numerous devices to abridge
and facilitate labour, and to give a permanence, almost eternal, to
their gorgeous structures." — Stuari^s Anecdotes.
" The introduction of new inventions seemeth to be the very-
chief of all human actions. The benefits of new inventions may
extend to all mankind universally, but the good of pohtical
achievements can respect but some particular cantons of men ;
these latter do not endure above a few ages, the former for ever.
Inventions make all men happy without either injury or damage
to any one single person. Furthermore, new inventions are, as it
were, new erections and imitations of God's own works." — Bacon.
March 1, 1836.
INTRODUCTION.
A retrospective view of the colonial policy of Great Britain
may not be inapplicable to some introductory remarks to this
work.
It has always been the well known policy of that powerful
nation, to supply her colonies with the home manufactures. They
have of course, as a part of this plan, prevented the introduction
of machinery aiyl of all mechanical operations and improvements.
Through the influence of fashion, as well as by other means, they
have rendered their various dependencies entirely subservient to
the mother country; affording them a constant supply, not only of
articles of necessity, but those of ornament and fashion. This
was the avowed condition of the North American colonies, pre-
vious to the war of the revolution.* Chatham said, he " would
* The state of the country, the state of the governmeDt, and the state
of manufactures at this period, may he learned from the following letter
wiitten by John Adams, Dec. 19, 1816.
Extract of a Utter from President Adams to Wm, E, Richmond^ Esq.
Providence. Dec. Uth^ 1819.
Sir, — I have received your polite favour of the 10th, the subject of which
is of great importance. I am old enough to remember the war of 1745, and
its end. The war of 1755, and its close. The war of 1775, and its termi-
nation. The war of 1812, and its pacification. Every one of these wars has
been followed by a general distress, embarrassments on commerce, destruc-
tion of manufactures ; fall of the price of produce and of lands, similar to
those we feel at the present day — and all produced by the same causes : — I
have wondered that so much experience has not taught us more caution.
The British merchants and manufacturers, immediately after the peace, dis-
gorged upon us all their stores of merchandise and manufactures — not only
without profit, but at a certain loss for a time — with the express purpose of
annihilating all our manufactories and ruining all our manufacturers. The
cheapness of the articles allures us into extravagances, and at length
produces universal complaint. What would be the consequences of the
abolition of all restrictive, exclusive, and monopolising laws, if adopted by
3
18 INTRODUCTION.
not have the Americans make a " hobnail]'*'' and they will not have
" a razor to shave their beards," was an expression in debate, by a
member of the English parliament. Such was the condition of
these colonies, previous to their declaration of independence ;
hence, the inhabitants found themselves bare even of necessary
clothing, and of common utensils for the use of their domestic
economy. This rendered the war more oppressive, and increased
the privations of the Provincials, altogether beyopd the suflferings
of a state of warfare in modern times. The citizens had, ifrom
their first settlement, looked to the other side of the Atlantic for
their clothing, their luxuries, &c. ; in fact, for every thing, ex-
cept their fire wood, meats, and bread stuffs. So that at the com-
mencement of their resistance, they were nearly left without a
tool to work with ; the women were driven to the use of thorns,
when their supply of pins failed them. All kinds of hardware
and crockery were generally unattainable. Even the article of
leather, was very imperfectly prepared. So that not only the army
were badly shod, but many of the citizens were bare-footed, and
bare-headed. The following remaijvs will show, that these restric-
tions on trade constituted a part of the complaints and grievances
of the colonies. It was not easy for them to see by what principle
their removal to America should deprive them of such rights and
privileges. They could not comprehend the justice of restrictions
so materially different from those at " home ;" or why they might
not, equally with their elder brethren in England, seek the best
markets for their products, and like them manufacture such
articles as were within their power, and essential to their comfort.
But the selfish politicians of Britain, and her still more selfish
merchants and manufacturers, thought otherwise. A different
doctrine was accordingly advanced, and a different policy pursued.
Acts were therefore early passed, restricting the trade with the
all the nations of the earth, I pretend not to say : but while all the nations
with whom we have intercourse, persevere in cherishing such laws, I know
not how we can do ourselves justice without introducing, with great prudence
and discretion however, some portions of the same system. The gentlemen
of Philadelphia have published a very important volume upon the subject,
which I recommend to your careful perusal. Other cities are co-operating
in the same plan. I heartily wish them all success, so far as this, at least —
that congress may take the great subject into their most serious deliberation,
and decide upon it according to their most mature wisdom.
John Adams.
Note — A meeting was held in London, to assist cotton manufacture, headed
by Earl Grosvenor, Lord Folkstone, H. Brougham, Sir Robert Peel, dtc,
and liberal subscriptions collected.
INTRODUCTION. 19
plantations, ''as well as with other parts of the world, to British
built ships belonging to the subjects of England, or to her planta-
tions. Not contented with thus confining the colonial export
trade to the parent country, parliament in 1663 limited the import
trade in the same manner. These acts, indeed, left free the trade
and intercourse between the colonies. But even this privilege re-
mained only a short period. In 1672 certain colonial products,
transported from one colony to another, were subjected to duties.
White sugars were to pay five shillings, and brown sugars one
shilling and sixpence, per hundred ; — tobacco and indigo one
penny, and cotton wool a half-penny, per pound. The colonists
deemed these acts highly injurious to their interests. They were
deprived of the privilege of seeking the best market for their pro-
ducts, and of receiving in exchange the articles they wanted,
without being charged tfie additional expense of a circuitous route
through England. The acts themselves were considered by some
as a violation of their charter rights ; in Massachusetts they were,
for a long time, totally disregarded. The other colonies viewed
them in the same light. Virginia presented a petition for their re-
peal ; and Rhode Island declared them unconstitutional, and con-
trary to their charter. The Carolinas, also, declared them not less
grievous and illegal. The disregard of these enactments on the
part of the colonies — a disregard which sprung from a firm con-
viction of their illegal and oppressive character — occasioned loud
and clamorous complaints in England. The revenue it was urged
would be injured ; and the dependence of the colonies on the pa-
rent country would, in time, be totally destroyed. Here much
interesting matter might be introduced, but nothing more than a
general sketch is intended.
A similar sensibility prevailed on the subject of manufactures.
For many years after their settlement, the colonies were too much
occupied in subduing their lands, to engage in other business.
When, at length, they turned their attention to them, the varieties
were few, and of coarse and imperfect texture. But even these
were viewed with a jealous eye. In 1699, commenced a systematic
course of restrictions on colonial manufactures, by an enactment
of parliament, " That no wool, yam, or woollen manufactures of
their American plantations, should be shipped there, or even laden,
in order to be transported thence, to any place whatever." Other
acts followed, in subsequent years, having for their object the
suppression of manufactures in America, and the continued de-
pendence of the colonies on the parent country. In 1719, the house
of commons declared, " That the erecting of manu&ctories in the
20 INTRODUCTION.
colonies, tended to lessen their dependence on Great Britain." In
1731, the board of trade reported to the house of commons, " That
there wore more trades carried on, and manufactures set up, in the
provinces on the continent of America, to the northward of Vir-
ginia, prejudicial to the trade and manufactures of Great Britain,
jiarticularly in New England ;" they suggested " whether it might
not bo expedient, in order to keep the colonies properly dependent
iifxin the parent country, and to render her manufactures of ser-
vice to the government, " to give those colonies some encourage-
ment." Worn the London company of hatters, loud complaints
wore made to parliament, and suitable restrictions demanded upon
the exportation of hats, which were manufactured in New Eng-
land, and exported to various places, to the serious injury of their
trade. In consequence of these representations, the exportations of
hats from the colonies to foreign countries, and from one plantation
to another, were prohibited ; and even restraints, to a certain ex-
tent, were imposed on their manufacture. In 1731, it was enacted,
that hats sliould neither be shipped, nor even laden upon a horse-
cart or other carriage, with a view to transportation to any other
colony, or to any place whatever ; no hatter should employ more
than t^^xi apprentices at once, nor make hats, unless he had served
as an apprentice to the trade seven years ; and, that no negro
ahould U' allowed to work at the business at all. The complaints
aiHl the clain)s of the manufiicturers of iron were of an equally
aelti^ character. The colonists might reduce the iron ore into
pigs — they might cimvert it into bars — it might be furnished them
duty free ; but the English must have the profit of manu&cturing
itf be)*oiHl this incipient stage. Similar success awaited the re-
pretsaentations and petitions of this trade. In this year, 1750, par-
liament allowed the importation of pig and bar iron from the
coioiueti^ into London^ dut>* free : but prohibited the erection or
continuance of any miil or other c^j^m^. K»r slitting or rolling iroo,
or any pt^f^ toxv^^y to work with a tilt-hammer, or any furnace
Ibr making steels in the colonies^ under the penalty of two hundred
pounds. Kv^ry such niiU^ engine^ cmt plating libige, was declared
a ciisisn nMMncf : and the goTemcors of the cokMiies, on the in-
tewation c4' two witneGses^ on oath« were din?cted to cause the
same to be retuoved withm thiity dairs^ or lo forleit the sum of
it^^^V It appears that no sooner did the cotoQies. emerging from
the iwMeiMCS and poTi»tr of iheir early settlements, begin to direct
their atiention to commerce and nMinu&ctares» than they were
su^ectifd by the parent country K> many rexatious reguktionsi
whkh seeoKd to indkali):. thai with regard i» those suib^eccs, the
INTRODUCTION. 21
colonies were expected to follow that line of policy, which she in
her wisdom should mark out for them. At every indication of
colonial prosperity, the complaints of the commercial and manu-
facturing interests of Great Britain ; were loud and clamorous.
Repeated demands were made upon the government, to correct the
growing evil, and to keep the colonies in due subjection. " The
colonies," said the complainants, " are beginning to carry on trade;
they will soon be our formidable rivals ; they are already setting
up manufactures ; they will soon set up for independence." To
the increase of this feverish excitement in the parent country, the
English writers of those days contributed not a little. As early as
1670, in a work entitled, "Discourse on Trade," published by Sir
Joshua Child, is the following language, which expresses the
prevailing opinion of the day : — " New England is the most pre-
judicial plantation to this kingdom ; of all the Anierican planta-
tions, his majesty has none so apt for the building of shipping, as
New England ; nor any comparably so qualified for the breed-
ing of seamen, not only by reason of the natural industry of that
people, but principally by reason of their fisheries ; and in my
poor opinion, there is nothing more prejudicial, and in prospect
more dangerous to any mother kingdom, than the increase of
shipping in her colonies." Such was their condition, that if they
made a hat, or a piece of steel, an act of parliament calls it a
nuisance ; a tilting hammer, a steel furnace, must be removed as a
nuisance. Cutting off our trade with all parts of the world, was
a principal reason that originated the declaration of independence.
All Europe, who dreaded America, were urging England forward
in her restrictive policy with the colonies.
These restrictions led to grievances, and complaints from the
colonies, which finally ended in their independence.
As soon as the United States were recognised and acknowledged
in her national compact, other nations as well as England crowded
their manufactures into the new and hungry market. The country
was then bare of European conunodities. The flooding of the
country with foreign articles rendered it unnecessary and im-
practicable to establish manufactures in any part of the Union.
The condition of Europe soon called for the products of the soil,
and the activity of commerce caused the merchants to flourish,
and these, by furnishing a market, enriched the farmers and other
inhabitants. This enabled them to give enormous prices for
European and India goods: so nothing was done of importance,
even to lay a foundation for future supplies of American domestic
goods.
22 INTRODUCTION.
French and English febrics were introduced, by all the interest
of commercial men, and they were encouraged by all the rage of
fashion. With such seeming kindness, the power of the states
were rendered inoperative, and their resources expended. Their
condition was similar to that of the Corsicans, who after they had
gained and substantiated their independence under the patriotic
and heroic Paoli, were swindled out of their liberty and reduced
to servitude by an influx of Italian silks and trinkets from Naples.
(^See BosweWs History of Corsica,)
Nothing but a particular exigence, and the state of European
afiairs, durmg the reign of Napoleon, prevented the ruin of this
republic, by the astonishing importation of foreign productions.
The non-intercourse and non-importation laws raised the prices
of all articles, before any energetic means were used to manufac-
ture for ourselves. The rage for English goods, and for the
luxuries of the East, had become so general, that no cost could
prevent their use, and not merely a common use, but even an
extravagant expenditure.
The daughters of the self-denying matrons, known to fame, in
the stories of the first resistance to Great-Britain, in renoimcing
the use of lea — used profusely the best hyson and gunpowder
imperial ; so that these expensive kinds were more generally used,
in the States, than in any other country in the world. Instead of
the homespun coats and gowns formerly prided in, British broad
cloths and French silks, were in common use, and the thirst and
demands of fashion were insatiable. The people had passed from
one extreme to another. No laws, either of non-importation or
non -intercourse, could prevent such articles finding a way into
our principal cities, and from thence into our country villages,
where they brought an exorbitant price. So that millions of
dollars were taken from us annually, to supply our wives and
daughters with chips from Italy, and bonnets from Leghorn.
Even the war of 1812 with Great Britain, did not stop the use,
but rather increased the desire for every thing foreign.
The restrictive pohcy failing, the state of the treasury urged
to the expedient of an equalised tarifi*, upon the goods of all foreign
nations at peace with the United States. This policy soon restored
the exhausted revenue, and enabled the government to sustain the
war, till a peace could be had on honourable terms.
The suddenness of the peace, unexpected and* unforeseen,
caused a flood of every description of articles, so that the markets
were completely glutted. Many goods on hand, fell to one third
of their previous prices on the merchant's hands. This dis-
INTRODUCTION. 23
couraged the infant establishments, which had been called into
existence, by the emergency of war, to supply our necessities;
they were not only disheartened but ruined, and many companies
failed and lost their all. This state of affairs even threatened
their total dissolution ; a few only weathered the storm, and main-
tained a firm standing. To the undaunted perseverance of those
few establishments, we owe the present progress and triumph of
our improved manufactures.
By the introduction of the best and latest machinery, and with
the advantages of New England water-power, they have survived
every attack, surmounted every obstacle, and overcome every
difficulty. Irish linens and India cottons, which once supplied
our markets, are now but little known. An immense quantity of
our cotton cloths are sold at a very low price, and are consumed
in all parts of the Union, both plain and printed ; as well as large
exportations to South America, where they are in high repute, and
have driven the British and India goods out of those markets.
Samuel Slater, the father of our manu&cture of cotton, lived to
see this astonishing change, and the successful operation of what
he had first introduced, by unwavering firmness, under various
and now unknown discouragements; which may teach us "Not to
despise the day of small things." Slater commenced with seventy-two
spindles, in a clothier's shop at Pawtucket, and did not find ready
sale for his yarn after he had spun it. The first students of the
university of Oxford in England first recited in a barn, in the
time of Alfred ; and the most splendid establishments, as well as
the greatest of empires, commenced from small beginnings. We
cannot, at present, foresee the wonderful extension of our manufac-
tures ; they are destined to supersede all that have ever existed
before them in any part of the world.
A cpld indifference on this subject exists, even in the manufac-
turing districts. There is not that decided preference, and patriotic
attachment, to our own productions, as there undoubtedly ought
to be, but a deplorable infatuation, after every thing foreign and
far fetched.
" Are you sure that it is not American?" is the question often put,
when articles are offered for sale. Domestic goods have been
treated with too much contempt, even by those who earn their bread
by their production. This apathy, this monstrous destitution of
patriotism, must be removed, and the predilection for the fabrics of
Europe and India goods, must be frowned down, before our
manu&ctures of fine goods and silks can be established on a per-
manent basis. If they ever arrive at greater perfection ; if the
24 INTRODUCTION.
are to be enabled to vie with the old world, with their accumulated
capitals and cheapness of labour, they must be nurtured and
cherished at home. This would be the most "judicious" course.
Let us all unite, as the heart of one man, in the resolution, to pre-
fer, and use nothing but the work of our own hands, and the
business will be completed : we have the power to say it shall be
done. This will be the final and efiectual "tariff," that shall
settle this subject of long and loud debate. This course must
follow the " compromise or pacification," and all will be well.
Employment will be necessary for our immense increase of popu-
lation, and the influx of strangers, from every part of the world,
invited to our shores, by the promise of liberty and plenty, must
find work to exercise their various abilities and habits of industry.
Many of them are valuable mechanics and artisans, of infinite
variety of skill, well adapted to assist in the rapid improvements
now commencing, unexampled in ancient or modern history.
Who knows but other Slaters may come over to us, and assist in
feeding and clothing the population that is forming new states in
the vast wilderness, destined to be great empires, to exist for many
generations — when Rome, and Paris, and Berlin, shall be no more.
The prospect of national greatness is as sure as that of national
existence. We are too contracted in our conceptions, when we
talk of the southern and eastern interests. The rise and progress
of empires and nations yet unborn, are connected with our
prosperity.
Columbus first led the way, and opened a path for the oppressed
to find freedom and peace. The old world had become tjrrannical
and despotic, and the groans of the children of men had come up
into the ears of the Lord God of the universe. He inspired his
servant with wisdom and courage, and afforded him all necessary
means to open a new world to the eyes of astonished millions, to
whom it was marvelous and almost miraculous. The wisdom of
the wise men was turned backward, their knowledge turned to
foolishness. All the maxims of political and spiritual tyranny
were turned upside down ; and Luther and others, exhibiting a
mighty spirit of reformation, believed there would be deliverance,
though they saw not the way. Their faith saved them, and it has
happened according to their word. The iron arm has been broken ;
and the weak and despised have fled for refuge, and have found a
quiet habitation.
May Americans remember their mercies and deep responsibilities!
Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset
INTRODUCTION. 26
US ; and let us ran with' patient perseverance in every good work,
and we shall become the praise of the whole earth.
Had Columbus been discouraged, and turned back, at the mutiny
of his crew, or had he then hearkened to the timid caution of his
friends, we never should have reaped the wonderful harvest of
benefits, from their disinterested labours, that we now enjoy. It
is by constant self-denial and imconquered perseverance, that we
can obtain any great object : we shall reap if we faint not, but if
we are not faithful to the end, we cannot obtain the reward.
The strong and prominent trait of character in Slater, was his
unwavering and steadfast perseverance, and his constant applica-
tion to the fulfilment of his object. Had he foiled in constructing
the Arkwright machinery, or had he finally failed in his extensive
business, the cause of manufoctures would have been retarded ;
indeed, no one can calculate the evil consequences of such an
event ; but he held on his way ; he fainted, but yet pursued.
And he has lefl us an example, to those engaged in the same cause,
or in a similar enterprise, to be sted&st, unmoveable, and faithful ;
till America shall rival, in the perfection of her manufactures, as
she does now in the freedom of her institutions, the nations of
the earth ! We are richly supplied, and we possess, in a high and
superabundant degree, all the natural capabilities for the purpose ;
all that is necessary, is the application of them to the proper
object. Those philosophers who deny the boimties of Providence,
in their rich and exhaustless abundance, by teaching that this
globe is unable to support and sustain the natural increase of its
inhabitants, have the most contracted and degraded view of the
resources of nature, and the arrangement of her laws, not to insist
upon the inspiration. They contradict the realities of all ages, by
an unbelieving scepticism, fostered by a selfish policy, and a mis-
representation of matters of fact. We have resources for hundreds
of millions. He is the true patriot who developes those mines and
riches, and who gives employment to the species, to dignify society
and ornament the country. We envy not those self styled patriots,
whose thirst for ofiice and distinction allows them to deceive and
cajole their fellow citizens, by prejudicing them against the talented
and enterprising part of society. Thus teaching them discontent,
and prejudicing them against the necessary arrangements to pro-
mote the general welfare, making them the tools of their sordid
and selfish policy ; and yet these patriots imagine that their exalta-
tion is essential to the honour and safety of their country. The
path-way of virtue and truth, which only leads to honour and
immortality, is too hard for their tender feet. They are astonished
4
28 INTRODUCTION.
nearly the same facilities to the wooUen, the worsted, the linen,
the stocking, and the lace manufactures, as well as to silk and
cotton ; and that they have spread from England to the whole of
Europe, to America, and to parts of Africa and Asia : it must be
admitted thatthe mechanical improvements in the art of spinning .
have an importance which it is difficult to over-estimate. By the
Greeks, their authors would have been thought worthy of deifica-
tion ; nor will the enhghtened judgment of moderns deny that the
men to whom we owe such inventions deserve to rank among the
chief benefactors of mankind." — Barnes,
" Cotton spinning, the history of which is almost romantic, has
been made poetical by Dr. Darwin's powers of description and
embellishment. In his * Botanic Garden' he thus sings the
wonders of Arkwright's establishment on the Derwent, at Crom-
ford."
" Where Derwent guides his dusky floods
Through vaulted mountains, and a night of woods,
The nymph Gossypia treads the velvet sod,
And warms with rosy smiles the wat'ry god.
His pond'rous oars to slender spindles turns.
And pours o'er massy wheels his foaming urns,
With playful charms her hoary lover wins.
And wields his trident while the monarch spins.
First, with nice eye, emerging Naiads cull
From leathery pods the vegetable wool :
With wiry teeth revolving cards release
The tangled knots, and smooth the ravePd fleece :
Next moves the iron hand with fingers fine,
Combs the wide card, and forms the eternal line ;
Slow, with soft lips, the whirling can acquires
The tender skeins, and wraps in rising spires ;
With quickened pace successive rollers move.
And these retain, and those extend the rove;
Then fly the spokes, the rapid axles glow,
While slowly circumvolves the labouring wheel below."
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER,
CHAPTER I.
FROM HIS BIRTH TO HIS LEAVING ENGLAND.
** Nothing ii here for teart, nothmg to wail.
Or knock the breast; no weakness, no contempt,
Dispraise or blame ; nothing but well and fiiir,
And what may quiet as, in death so noble.**
Milton.
In writing the volumes of biography so frequently presented to
the world, the motives of their authors have been various, and the
subjects diversified. Mankind take an interest in the history of
those, who, Uke themselves, have encountered the trials, and dis-
charged the duties of life. Too often, however, publicity is given
to the lives of men, splendid in acts of mighty mischief, in whom
the secret exercises of the heart would not bear a scrutiny. The
memoirs are comparatively few of those engaged in the business
and useful walks of life.
Biography, of late years, has been rendered interesting, chiefly,
by an extensive and learned correspondence ; so that the compilers
have scarcely room for narrative or reflection. These collections
of letters from eminent persons are read with avidity, as a matter
of curiosity, and as an indulgence to the inquisitive desire to
enter into the private moments and opinions of individuals ex-
tensively known to fkme. It is of a man well known in the
business transactions of this country that we write. Notwithstand-
ing his business and acquaintance were so extensive, and his
success so complete, the materials for writing his memoir are scanty
30 MEMOIR OF SAMUBL SLATER.
and few. This is a complaint with all writers of biography who
write the lives of persons that have passed through life in a
uniform course, being little subjected to serious and important
changes. To make it up from letters is out of the question, as
there are only a few in existence, excepting those on business ; so
that this volume will be a counterpart to the publications above
referred to.* So that if I had not been &voured, in a personal
acquaintance with my deceased friend, I could not, in any satis-
factory manner, have accomplished my purpose, in wishing to
give the public an account of a man whom they have long heard
of, as the father of our manufactures ; and as one who had been
successful in establishing the cotton Jbusiness, on an improved and
permanent basis.
I am writing of a man of business; not of a man devoted to
literature, or what has been called the liberal arts ; whose &me
has been spread by means of publications, or who had in any way
sought publicity, or made claim to any pretensions, but of one
who all his lifetime avoided it. It is well known, that the late
Samuel Slater, Esq. of Webster, Massachusetts, and for many
years a resident citizen in the village of Pawtucket, Rhode Island,
was a native of England. I have the most direct information of
the place of his birth, and of his parentage. His fiither, William
Slater, inherited the paternal estate, called " Holly House," near
* " The life of this gentleman presents nothing of that eclat and splendour
by which mankind are most commonly attracted and fascinated ; nothing of
the 'pomp and circumstance,' or stirring incidents of war; of marder and
pillage, burning and havoc, which, pursued on the large scale, makes the
man a hero ; but, followed on a less extensive plan, would brand him as a
felon. His glory is not the flitting ignis fatuus that rises (torn the chamel
house, to dazzle and mislead ; but the bright, cheering, and durable halo of
a well spent life ; passed in successful efforts to better the condition of our
race ; in the cultivation and extension of those useful arts, which, by multi-
plying our comforts and conveniences, advance the empire of civilisation,
and add to the sum of human enjoyment. If the mass of mankind were
wise ; if the chosen few, who sit in moral judgment on the actions of the
great, and reeord their sentence on the page of history, were just — then
would the false tinsel of military glory fade before the touchstone of truth,
and that ' shadow of renown,' which has followed the destroyers of our
race, 'from Macedonia's madman to the Swede,' be no longer regarded.
The true interests of humanity, and the dictates of political justice and
wisdom, require, alike, that this should be the case ; and that none but the
real benefactors of mankind should be held up as objects of our gratitude,
or examples for our imitation."^5%orl O^etck ef the life of Samud
J^aier.
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 31
Belper, in the county of Derbyshire, England. This estate is now
owned and occupied by his son, William Slater.
The father of Samuel Slater was one of those independent
yeomanry, who farm their own lands, now almost peculiar to that
part of the country, as a distinct class from the tenantry of
England. He did not, however, confine himself altogether to the
business of agriculture, but added to his estate by the purchase of
lands. He did so for the sale of timber, and was in fact a timber
merchant.
Being a neighbour of Jedediah Strutt, of whom we shall have
occasion to speak, he once made a considerable purchase for him
containing a water-privilege, on which there is now a very exten-
sive establishment He was otherwise engaged with Mr. Strutt
in making purchases of consequence, who had a high opinion of
his abilities and integrity as a man of business. This acquaint-
ance, and these transactions, led to the connection of Mr. Strutt
with Samuel, who was the fifth son, and is said to have resembled
his father in his person, and to have inherited his talents. This
enterprising son transplanted a branch of the Slater family into
the new world, where we trust they will grow and prosper for
many generations. The mother of Mr. Slater was a fine looking
woman, and lived a short time since with her third husband, whom
she survived, and often observed, she had been fiivoured with
" three good husbands." She had by her first husband, William
Slater, a large family ; William, who now lives on the paternal
estate with many children, bids fair to keep up the family name
on the other side of the Atlantic. John Slater, son of the subject
of this memoir, visited him a few years since, at the Holly House
farm, the place of his father's nativity, and viewed the establish-
ment where his honoured parent served his long and important
apprenticeship, as he did also the other mills owned by Messrs.
Arkwright and Strutt, at Crumford, six miles from Belper. When
on my last visit to Mr. Slater at Pawtucket, in 1833, he showed
me the prints of Arkwright and Strutt, and pointing to that of
Strutt, said, " Here is my old master," and pronounced it a good
likeness.
Perhaps nothing could have had more influence on the subject
of this memoir, to induce him to leave his business, than the
desire to visit his aged mother, of whom he spoke always most
affectionately, and corresponded with her.* And to have viewed
* The following letier is just such an one as we should expect an affec-
tionate son would write to his mother, oti the loss of a belored and interesting
32 MEMOIR OP SAMUEL SLATER.
-the place and scenes of his early days ; his brothers and sisters^
and their little ones, to the third generation; his school-fellows^
child. And it is ezpreseive of that strong parental affection, which was
peculiarly striking in Mr. Slater toward all his ofispring. Towards his
mother, Mr. Slater retained the fondest affection.
Extract of a letter sent by S. Slater to his mother at Belper, Englandy
March 28th, 1801.
Providence, R. L
Dearly Beloved Parent, — In December last, I answered yours of June,
1800, in which I wrote you, that my little family enjoyed a good state of
health. But now, under the most weighty load of sorrow and affliction, I
have to inform you that my first born and only son, William, was numbered
among the dead, January 31st, aged four years and five months. He was
taken sick with a severe cold, on Jan. 23d ; the next day he had a bad
coug^, but was playful, and anxious to ride about four miles, to see one of
my particular acquaintances. Therefore, to gratify him, I told him to go
and tell the boy to put the horse in the chaise, and we would lide; accord-
ingly he readily went to give his orders; but finally, we did not^o to
ride, and he never went out of the house afterwards. In the evening he
was very much troubled with a shrill cough, and rested but little during the
night. On the 25th he still grew worse, and on the 26th, in the afternoon,
we called for a physician; he gave him some powerful medicine, but the
operation of it was trifling, and his cough and hoarseness kept increasing
during the day and night following. On the 27th, he was more troubled
with hard breathing ; and of course a more particular attention was paid by
the physician, and medicine increased, but, alas ! to no purpose. During
this day and night, and on the 28th also, all our efforts and hopes were
baffled. On the morning of the 29ih, the physician judged him very
dangerous, and from his knowledge of my great love and affection for my
delightful child, he informed me that his case was very precarious, and said
he knew I should take every method to have him restored. He said if I
wished for further medical aid to assist and advise with him, he was entirely
willing. Therefore I sent immediately for the most eminent physician, and
on his arrival, they conversed, and pronounced his disorder the quinsey.
They proceeded to give large and strong doses of medicine, which put him
in the most deplorable misery ; together with his most excruciating disorder.
By this time his breath was so far stopped that he could not remain more
than two or three minutes in one place, and remained so that day and all
night following. On the morning of the 30th, his load of affliction was
increased, but he bore all with calmness, and appeared lovely. Towards
noon death had approached very near unto him, and about one o'clock his
eyes were nearly closed, his little fingers stiff and almost cold, and his
breath seemingly gone. He remained in that state till nearly three o'clock,
then he appeared to revive for a little while, and sat up in the bed, and called
for things to eat, and did eat freely ; which gave us some flattering hopes of
his recovery. But, behold, he was again seized as violently as ever, and
remained so until the morning of the 31st, when, about three o'clock, he
was summoned to quit this habitation of sorrow and trouble, for that of joy
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATK&. 33
his playmates, his schoolmaster, Jackson, who was then living;
the sons and grandsons of his old master, Strutt ; the old mill ; the
meadows and orchards, &c. that surrounded Holly house. He left
them all, in the bloom of youth, and retained a vivid recollection
of every particular. These early remembrances would cause the
tear to escape, even in his old age. But the state of his health,
the multiplicity of his concerns, and his concentrativeness, bound
him to Webster, and forbade the thought of a voyage across the
Atlantic. He refrained, denied himself, sent his love by his son,
and never returned to his lather's land. But he ever retained a
strong aflfection and lively concern in the welfare of his native
country.
As is usual, Samuel went on trial to Mr. Strutt, previous to his
indenture of apprenticeship, and during this probation his father
fell from a load of hay. This fall was the occasion of his death.
During his father's sickness, and perceiving that he was danger-
ously ill, he wished his father to article him to Mr. Strutt, as both
parties were satisfied. As a proof that his father had confidence
in him, and that there was stability in the boy, he said to him^
^^ You must do that business yourself, Samuel, / have so much to
doj and so litilt time to do t/." It is believed that this was his last
interview with his beloved parent.
He lost his father in 1782, when he was fourteen years of age,
at a time when a father's care and advice are much needed.
A boy left without guardianship, or watchful eye to restrain him,
is frequently exposed and led into temptation and ruin. Young
Slater, however, had an indulgent and faithful mother, and elder
brothers, so that he was not left entirely to his own resources.
The plate opposite is an engraved copy from the original indenture,
which is preserved in the fiunily, as a relic of their father's early
fidelity, and as a proof of his fiivoured means of knowledge.
Mr. Strutt was then building a large cotton fiictory at Milford,
and was a partner with Sir Richard Arkwright, in the cotton
spinning business ; the latter having been induced to this connec-
tion by the prospect which Strutt's machines aflforded, of an
increased consumption of yam. Samuel Slater asked Mr. Strutt,
before he went into the business, whether he considered it a per-
manent business. Mr. Strutt replied, ^' It is not probable, Samuel,
and perfect peace for ever. And we thereby are deprived of one of our
brightest earthly gems, the glittering of which, time will never efface. But
the Lord gave him, and he hath taken him away ; and from henceforth and
for ever, blessed be his name."
5
34 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLArER.
that it will always be as g;ood as it is now, but I have no doobt it
will always be a/otV business, if it be well managed," It will be
recollected, that this was before Mr. Peel invented the printing
cylinder. Indeed the whole cotton business of England was, at
that time, confined to a small district in Derbyshire, and its whole
amount not greater than that which is done at the present day in
a single village in New England.
In (he early part of our young apprentice's time, he manifested
the bent of his mind, for he frequently spent his Sundays alone,
making experiments in machinery. He was six months without
seeing his mother, or brothers and sisters, though he was short of
a mile from home. Not that he lacked in filial or fraternal affec-
tions ; but he was so intent, aud so devoted to the attainment of
his business. To show the expertness and the propensity of his
mind, the following circumstance is related. Mr. Slrutt endea-
voured to improve the htart-motton, that would enlarge or raise the
yam in the middle, so as to contain more on the bobbin. Jede-
diah Strutt was unsuccessful in his experiments, and Samuel saw
what was wanting, and went to work the next Sunday, (the only
time he had to himself,) and formed such a motion, (a digram
of which is given below) to the satisfaction of his master, who
presented him with a guinea.
Mr. Strutt was an economist, and enforced his maxims on
Samuel, cautioning him against waste, and assuring him that it was
. MEMOIR OF 8AMURL SLATER. 36
by sNiyings that a fortune in business was to be made.* During this
time, Samuel became an excellent machinist, as he had an oppor-
tunity of seeing the latest improvements. Arkwright and Strutt
were in company, and it was at a time when there was much
excitement and lawsuits on the patent rights ; so that he was
initiated into all the crooks and turns of such controversies. This
may have prevented him applying for a privilege as the introducer
of Arkwright's patents into the United States.
Slater served his indenture with Mr. Strutt, and faithfully per-
formed his part of the contract to the last day of the term, and
there was a good imderstanding between the parties to the last.
This accomplishment of his full time was characteristic of him.
and was praiseworthy and beneficial, as it laid the foundation of
his adaptation to business, and finally to his perfect knowledge of
it He was different from those restless youths, who think they
know every thing before they have cut their eye teeth, and who
set up for themselves before their beards are grown, without either
knowledge or capital, and who fail and defraud their creditors,
during the time they ought to have been serving an apprenticeship.
Such boy^ break their engagements, forfeit all confidence, and
follow the example of Franklin, in that particular, though they
cannot be compared to him in any thing else. And in this,
Franklin was to be blamed; I praise him not. He himself
acknowledges it to have been a great error in his life. A
conscientious regard to contracts is a principle by which every
person ought to be influenced, and without which, there is no
hope of their arriving at eminence in their profession. Mr. Slater
told me a short time before his death, that after his time was out,
he engaged with Mr. Strutt to have the oversight of the erection
of some new works, in addition to the mill, and this general
employment, with his close observation (for he always saw and
heard every thing, nothing could escape his notice,) and retentive
memory, was of great service to him in afterwards assisting him
to erect his first mill in Pawtucket. If he had been confined to
one branch of business, as is usual with an apprentice in England,
his knowledge would have been inadequate to perform what he
♦The following anecdote is told: — "When Mr. Slater was yet a boy,
with Mr. Strutt, he passed by some loose cotton on the floor without picking
it up ; MIflBtrQtt called him back and told him to take up the cotton, for it
was by att Ading to such small things that great fortunes were accumulated ;
and Mr. Strutt observed to his wife, by way of still impressing the subject
on the mind of his favourite apprentice, ' that he was afraid that Samuel
would never be rich.' "
36 MEMOfR OF 0AMUEL 0LATER.
did on his first coming to America. But his residing in Strutt's
family, his being the son of his deceased friend and neighbour,
as well as his close application to business, his ingenious experi-
ments, and his steady habits, gave him the character of the ^^indus-
trious apprentice."
Ho bad the confidence of his master, and became his right-hand
man, and he might have attained the highest eminence by a con-
tinuance in England. Mr. Strutt afterwards declared that had
he known his intentions, nothing should have induced him to part
with him. But Mr. Slater told me that he contemplated trying
America for some time ; and that his object was, to get a general
knowledge of the business, in order to come to this country and
introduce the manufacture of cotton, on the Arkwright improve-
ment, and that he remained after the time of his indenture with
that special object in view.
There were early indications that he designed embarking in
business for himself, and it is said, that he used to enquire of
Arkwright and others, if they thought the business would be
overdone in England. Yet it does not appear that he ever made
known to any person his intention of leaving England. The father
of Samuel Slater must have been a man of considerable property
and business for those times, from the fact of his supporting
so largo a family respectably, and giving them such an education
as wos equal to any children who were calculated for business,
sixty years ago. After making provision for his widow, he left
to eacli of his children what was then a considerable sum for
persons in business. There was included, in Samuel's portion,
two houses in Belper, a nail store, and another building ; all of
which sold as they were, under many disadvantages, for nearly
two thousand dollars. He did not touch this property when he
left home, but probably reserved it for a retreat in case of failure
of his object in coming to the United States. He had always that
kind of generalship which provides for a retreat in case of acci-
dent, or as he would say, " to lay up for a rainy day."
P^w persons who are extravagant when apprentices, ever gain
in business ; and it has been said, tliat few who saved money then
but what succeeded in after life. The following copy of a note*
♦ " f\mr-p€mct Stamp.
iCd :^« — I promise to pay to Samuel Slater, or order, upon demand, the
aum of two pounds two aliiUings, for ralue receired, with lawful interest
for the same, as witness my hand this tenth day of January, 1768.
Sifned in the presence of us, William Asbmole.
Wm. More, J. Piatt^**
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 37
which I ha\re in my possession, shows the early savings of Slater :
economy and inde&tigable industry were the foundation principle
of liis fortune. Not by speculation, or by any circumstances
peculiarly favourable to the accumulation of wealth, but by the
dint of persevering attention to business for half a century.
The motive, or inducement, and first occasion of his thinking
of leaving Mr. Strutt, and what finally determined him, was his
observing* in a Philadelphia paper, a reward offered by a society
for a machine to make cotton rollers, &c. This convinced him
that America must be very bare of every thing of the kind, and
he prepared himself accordingly. He probably knew the risk he
should run in attempting to leave England as a machinist, and it
was characteristic of him, never to talk of his business — where he
was going, or when he intended to i^eturn. John Slater, a sur-
viving brother, says he remembers his coming home, and telling
his mother that he wished his clothes, as he was going by the
stage to London ; this was the last time his mother, or any of
the family, saw him, till his brother John joined him in Pawtucket.
He was aware, that there was danger of his being stopped, as the
government restrictions were very severe, and very unjust ; the
officers were very scrupulous in searching every passenger to
America. He therefore resolved not to take any pattern, nor have
any writing or memorandum about him, but trusted wholly to his
acquirements in the business and to his excellent memory. His
appearance was also in his favour, it being that of an English
&rmer's son, rather than that of a mechanic. He told me him-
self he had nothing about him but his indenture, which he kept
concealed, and this was his only introduction and recommenda-
tion in the new world.
Though he left home for London, without making known his
intentions, he did not design leaving his friends in suspense ; he
therefore prepared a letter for his mother informing her of his
destination ; which, however, he did not venture to put in the
* During the last year or two of his apprenticeship, his thoughts as to his
fiiture course, and the establishment of the business on his own account, were
turned towards this country, by rarious rumours and reports which reached
Derbyshire, of the anxiety of the different state governments, here, to en-
courage manufactures. The newspaper account of a liberal bounty (£100)
granted by the legislature of Pennsylvania, to a person, who had imperfectly
succeeded in constructing a carding machine, to make rolls for jennies, and
the knowledge that a society had been authorised by the same legislature
for the promotion of manufactures, induced him finally to push hit fortune
in the western hemisphere.
38 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
post-office, till just before he went on board the ship bound to New
York.
While waiting in London till the captain was ready to embark,
which appears to have been a week or ten days, he spent his time
in seeing the curiosities ; the Cathedrals, the Tower, and other
London shows. Of these he often spoke, in ^miliar conversation,
with a great deal of interest. He told of a circumstance that
happened to him in London : — a Jew accosted him, perceiving him
to be from the country, and told him, in a private manner, that he
had some silk stockings, that he would sell remarkably low, but
he wished the bargain to be between themselves ; which overture
our young adventurer listened to rather incautiously ; and found,
on examination, after he went to his tavern, that he had bought
stockings vnthoul feet. When he told this anecdote, he said, it
served to <* sharpen his eye teeth." Pew countrjrmen, strangers
in London, spend even a short time there, without experiencing
some similar adventure ; the above, however, was not of serious
importance, and served only to laugh at, as a proof of his
credulity.
Young people should be cautious how they spend their time in
great cities, without the acquaintance of some of the resident in-
habitants. The best way for strangers who only remain a short
time in a city, is to put up at one of the most respectable hotels.
We cannot help reflecting on the unforeseen changes which
take place in human life. When we are boys, we know not where
our lot will be cast, nor what will be our destiny in this changing
world. Nor is it proper we should — ^it is wisely ordered that
it should be otherwise ; " sufficient for the day is the evil thereof."
It is for us to do our every day's duty, and leave the event ; "what
a man soweth, that shall he also reap." If we do well, we shall
receive the reward of our labours, even in the pleasure of well
doing. If young Slater had foreseen the difficulties he had to
encounter, before he spun the first cotton yam in America, he
never would have undertaken it ; but it is well that we have no
such foresight, and that our strength is according to our day.
Those who have left their native country, know something of the
trials of parting. Young Slater's heart was full, when he looked
the last time on Holly House, and all that was within ; but a
youthful ambition fired his soul, and enabled him to overcome his
feelings. He took a last look of his mother, he tore himself away
from his brothers and sisters, with whom he had taken sweet
counsel, and with whom he was closely united in fraternal afiec-
tion. The emigrant can understand all this, and feel it most in-
MEMOTB OP SAMUEL SLATER. 39
tensely, and it is better felt than expressed ; words are cold and
imperfect to delineate such beatings of the heart, or the natural
attachment we feel to our nation, ^' for with all its faults, we love
it still;" it is our country, and no trifling consideration should
cause a person to leave his native land for another. But emigra-
tion is the fashion of the day, for the traveling organ was never
more active, not even in Arabia.
The cotton business was then in its infancy ; if Mr. Slater had
continued in England, and used the same exertions, and the same
economy as he has done here, he would have realised a fortune
there, equal to what Arkwright did himself; as the father of Sir
Robert Peel did, and several others fkr inferior to Samuel Slater —
in business talents, and mechanical genius. He himself entertain-
ed this opinion ; but he was afraid the cotton spinning would be
overdone in England, and listened to the overtures held out from
the United States; we shall see how far his footsteps were prosper-
ed, and how far the country has been benefited by his labours.
He brought with him all Arkwright's improvements in use at that
time, and made articles equal to those made in England. He was
not ashamed to send his first yam home to Mr. Strutt, as it would
bear a comparison with his, and with any made elsewhere.*
Mrs. Mary Wilkinson, of Providence, R. I., has a pattern of
cotton check cloth, and presented me with a part of an apron, of
the first check made by Mr. Slater, which she says she paid for in
covering his rollers with leather ; a specimen of which is in the
Philadelphia Museum. I keep it by me as a curiosity, and it is
quite equal to the same article made in England. Genius usually
receives its early bias from some circumstances, in the general
character of the age, and some in the particular condition of the
person to whom it belongs : this observation is exemplified in the
genius of Slater.
There were early indications of the genius of Samuel : when a
child he gave a patient attention to whatever he attempted. The
" boy is the father of the man ;" he was his mother's best boy to wind
worsted, for which purpose he made himself a polished steel spin-
dle ; his inclination led him to the machine shop. His school-
master admired him as a good writer, and as good at arithmetic ;
observing that scholars well versed in duodecimals and vulgar
fractions, made more business men, than attention to the other
rules. Such early acquisitions gave indications of liis great cal-
* A specimen of the first yam, stocking and twist, is deposited in the
Philadelphia Museum.
40 MRMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
culation, and his talents as an accountant, in which he afterwards
so much excelled.
When Jedediah Strutt, the partner of Arkwright, applied to his
neighbour Slater for one of his sons, expressing a wish to have
the eldest, which after some consultation was refused, Mr. Slater,
who had perceived his son Samuel's inclination, told his friend he
had better take Samuel on trial, then not fourteen years of age,
observing that he " wrote well, and was good at figures." This
proved a judicious selection, which is a matter of great importance
in a parent apportioning his sons to proper employments. None
could have been more appropriate nor more successful, than the
choice which was made in this instance. It appears there were
strong and early developments of the bent of his mind. He
became extraordinary for comprehensive calculations, and never
forgot his good, plain, old-&BhionedJhand-writing.
Samuel was put to school to a Mr. Jackson, a very approved
teacher in Belper, of whom he acquired the rudiments of a com-
mon business education, and like most of Mr. Jackson^s scholars,
learned to write a good hand, and a free and easy style. He
always in after life spoke of this worthy gentleman with gratitude
and affection, and maintained a correspondence with him after he
came to America. This old schoolmaster, who was proud of his
scholar, never forgot him ; and the following letters were preserved
by Mr. Slater.
Belpeh, 21st Febjr. 1790.
Dear Sir, — I am glad to have so farourable an account of your health
when your letters left the western world, the seat of patriotism and in-
dependence ; your long and dangerous voyage I shall pass over in silence, as
I suppose the reflection will now afibrd you pleasure. There is something truly
pleasing in thinking upon calamities which we have surmounted and are
passed away. You are in a sphere of action now where you are likely to
see a considerable portion of this dirty globe : let me enjoin you to keep an
exact and regular journal of every day's transactions and observations. It
will be tn amusement for you at the time you do it. The other advantages
of it I need not point out, your own good sense will soon point them out : I
know from your particular turn, that you are well fitted for it. A number
of observations will often occur to you which would not be noticed by most
other people — make private remarks upon the leading features in the cha-
racters of all you have to deal with. I hope to live to see you in Britain
once again. Be particularly careful of your health ; the countries you are
likely to visit, demand some adherence to regularity and care. I shall at all
tiroes be happy to hear of your welfare. I have no local news to send you ;
I think Derbyshire wears much the same aspect (the difference of seasons
allowed for) as when you turned your back upon it. At all events I can
assure you, that the morals of a particular set are not at all improved since
you left them. I am far from being well ; I have the scurvy very ill, and am
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 41
at this time troubled with a cold ; however, I latend this night drinking your
health in a bumper. Let us hear from you as often as conrenient ; your
opportunities will be frequent, perhaps as in your nautical travels you will
frequently meet with ships bound to England.
I am, dear sir, with every sincere wish for your welfare.
Yours, &c. Thomas Jackson.
The Historical Society of Rhode Island voted, to request Mr.
Slater to give them such particulars as he should think proper, in
relation to his coming to this country ;* and the following was
found among his papers ; which shows, that had he lived, he in-
tended to have granted their petition. " Samuel Slater was born
in the town of Belper, in the county of Derby, June 9th, 1768.
In June 28th, 1782, beinf;; about fourteen years of age, he went to
live with Jedediah Stnitt, Esq., in Milford, near Belper, (the in-
ventor of the Derby ribbed stocking machine, and several years
a partner of Sir Richard Aikwright in the cotton spinning busi-
ness,) as a clerk ; who was then building a large factory at Milford,
where said Slater continued until August 1789. During four
or five of the late years, his time was solely devoted to the factory
as general overseer, both as respected making machinery and the
manu&cturing department. On the 1st day of September 1789, he
took his departure from Derbyshire for London, and on the 13th
he sailed for New York, where he arrived in November, after a pas-
sage of sixty-six days. He left New York in January 1790, for
Providence, and there made an arrangement with Messrs. Almy
and Brown, to commence preparation for spinning cotton at Paw-
tucket.
♦ Providence, R. I. Dec. 13th, 1834.
Sir — At a late meeting of the board of trustees of the Rhode Island
Historical Society, a resolution was passed of which the subjoined is a copy.
Any communication that you may feel inclined to make in consonance with
the request, will, if addressed to me, be promptly laid before the board.
I am, sir, respectfully yours,
Thomas H. Webb.
In board meeting — At the instance of the secretary, it was resolved, that
Mr. Samuel Slater be requested to draw up and present to this society, a
history of the first introduction of cotton spinning into this country, together
with an account of the difficulties attendant thereupon, and of sueh other
incidents in respect thereunto, as he may deem important or interesting to
have preserved for the information of posterity.
A true copy from the records. Attest,
Thomas H. Webb,
Mr. Samuel Slater, Secretary R. I. Hist. Soc.
42 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
" On the 18th day of the same month, the venerable Moses Brown
took him out to Pawtucket, where he commenced making the
machinery principally with his own hands, and on the 20th of
December following, he started three cards; drawing and roving,
and seventy-two spindles, which were worked by an old fulling
mill water wheel in a clothier's building, in which they continued
spinning about twenty months ; at the expiration of which time
they had several thousand pounds of yarn on hand, notwithstand-
ing every exertion was used to weave it up and sell it.
" Early in the year 1793, Almy, Brown and Slater built a small
factory in that village, (known and called to this day the old
factory,) in which they set in motion, July 12, the preparation and
seventy-two spindles, and slowly added to that number as the
sales of the yarn appeared more promising, which induced the
said Slater to be concerned in erecting anew mill, and to increase
the machinery in the old mill.'* The above was written by Mr.
Slater a short time before his death, and it is to be regretted that
he did not live to give a full accoimt of the progress of his busi-
ness.
From the preceding account of Samuel Slater's early history,
connections, and his enterprise and perseverance in laudable
pursuits, it appears that he came to this country in honour and
respectability. From his connections, advantages, and business
turn, it is obvious that he might and in all probability would have
reached a fortune in his own country. In leaving his own country
with such promising appearances, and making America the theatre
of his operations, he manifests in his early life a spirit of enter-
prise which all admire. With a keen discernment, he undoubtedly
had premonitions of future prosperity, and ultimately of planting
himself permanently in America.
I
The invention ascribed to Arkwright, and on which his
renown for mechanical genius mainly rests, is said, by Mr.
Baines, " To have been previously described, with the utmost
distinctness, in the specification of the machine invented by
John Wyatt, and that cotton had for some years been spun by
those machines. The patent for the invention was taken out,
in the year 1738, in the name of Lewis Paul, with whom Mr.
Wyatt had connected himself in partnership, but there is evidence
to show that the latter was the inventor."
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 43
The following accounts of Messrs. Arkwright and Stnitt will be
read with much interest, and this place appears to be appropriate
for their insertion.
Richard Arkwriobt, was one of those great characters, whom nature seems
to have destined, bjr the endowment of superior powers, to be the benefactor
of their fellow-creatures. Bom of parents who were classed among the
inferior rank of society, and brought up to one of the most humble occupa-
tions in life, he yet, by the aid of genius and perseveiance, rose to affluence
and honour. Richard Arkwright, who was the youngest of thirteen children,
was bom in Preston, in Lancashire, some time in the year 1732. In that
neighbourhood there was a considerable manufactory of linen goods, and of
linen and cotton mixed, carried on ; and his acquaintance with the operations
he witnessed there, seems in early life to have directed his thoughts to the
improvement of the mode of spinning. This, however, he did not accom-
plish, till many years had elapsed, for prior to the year 1767, he followed
his trade, which was that of a barber ; but at that period he quitted his
original business and situation at Wirksworth, and went about the country
buying hair. Coming to Warrington, he projected a mechanical contrivance
for a kind of perpetual motion. A clock-maker of that town, of the name of
John Kay, dissuaded him from it, and suggested that much money might be
gained by an engine for spinning cotton, which Kay promised to describe.
Kay and Arkwright then applied to Peter Atherton, Esq. of Liverpool, for
assistance in the constmction of such an engine, who, discouraged by the
mean appearance of the latter, declined, though he soon afterwards agreed
to lend Kay a smith and watch-tool maker to prepare the heavier part of
the engine, whilst Kay himself undertook to make the clock-maker's part of
it, and to instruct the workmen. In this way Arkwright's first engine, for
which he afterwards took a patent, was made. Mr. Arkwright experienced
many difficulties before he could bring his machine into use ; and even after
its completion had sufficiently demonstrated its value, its success would
have been for ever retarded if his genius and application had been less
ardent. His circumstances were far too unfavourable to enable him to com-
mence business on his own account, and few were willing to risk the loss of
capital on a new establishment. Having at length, however, the good fortune
to secure the co-operation of Mr. Smalley, of Preston, he obtained his first
patent for spinning cotton by means of rollers ; but their property failing,
they went to Nottingham, and there, by the assistance of wealthy indivi-
duals, erected a considerable cotton-mill turned by horses; but this mode
of procedure being found too expensive, another mill, on a larger scale, was
erected at Cromford, the machinery of which was put in motion by water.
This patent right was contested about the year 1772, on the ground that he
was not the original inventor. He obtained a verdict, however, and enjoyed
the patent without further intermption, to the end of the term for which it
was granted. Soon after the erection of the mill at Cromford, Mr. Arkwright
made many improvements in the mode of preparing the cotton for spinning,
and invented a variety of ingenious machines for effecting this purpose in
the most correct and expeditious manner ; for all which he obtained a patent
in the year 1775. The validity of this second patent was tried in the court
of king's bench, 1781, and a verdict was given against him on the ground of
44 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
the insufficiency of the specification ; but in 1785 the question was again
tried in the court of common pleas, when he obtained a verdict. This
verdict, however, raised up an association of the principal manufacturers,
who instituted another cause, bjr writ of scire facias^ in the court of king's
bench, when Mr. Arkwright was cast, on the ground of his not being the
original inventor. Conscious that this was not the case, he moved for a
new trial ; the rule, however, was refused, and on the 14th of November,
1785, the court of king's bench gave judgment to cancel the letters patent.
The improvements and inventions in cotton spinning, for which we are
indebted to the genius of Sir Richard Arkwright, and which complete a
series of machinery so various and complicated, are so admirably combined
and so well adapted to produce the intended effect in its most perfect form,
as to excite the admiration of every person capable of appreciating the diflS-
culty of the undertaking. And that all this should have been accomplished
by the single efforts of a man without education, or even mechanical experi-
ence, is most extraordinary, and affords a striking instance of the wonderful
powers displayed by the human mind when its powers are steadily directed
to one object. Yet this was not the only employment of this eminent man ;
for at the same time that he was inventing and improving machinery, he
was also engaged in other undertakings, which any f>erson, judging from
general experience, must have pronounced incompatible with such pursuits.
He was taking measures to secure to himself a fair proportion of the fruits
of his industry and ingenuity ; he was extending the business on a larger
scale ; he was introducing into every department of manufacture, a system
of industry, order, and cleanliness, till then unknown in any manufactory
where great numbers were employed together. These advantages he so
effectually accomplished, that his example may be regarded as the origin of
almost all similar improvements. When it is considered that during this
entire period he was afflicted with a violent asthma, which was always
extremely oppressive, and threatened sometimes to put an immediate termi-
nation to his existence, his great exertions must excitQ astonishment. For
some time previous to his death, he was rendered incfipable of continuing
his usual pursuits, by a complication of diseases, which at length deprived
him of life, at Cromford, on the 3d of August, 1792, in the sixtieth year
of his age. In the infancy of the invention. Sir Richard Arkwright
expressed ideas of its importance, which to persons less acquainted
with its merits appeared ridiculous ; but he lived long enough to see all his
conceptions more than realised in the advantages derived from it, both to
himself and to his country ; and the state to which those manufactures
dependent on it have been advanced since his death, makes all that had
been previously effected appear comparatively trifling. The merits of Sir
Richard Arkwright may be summed up by observing, '* that the object in
which he was engaged, is of the highest public value ; that though his family
were enriched, the benefits which have accrued to the nation have been
incalculably greater ; and that upon the whole he is entitled to the respect
and admiration of the world." — Ree$*9 Cyclopedia, Arkwright and Cotton,
Jedediah Strutt, the ingenious inventor of the machine for making ribbed
stockings, was a native of Normanton, where he was born in the year 1726.
His father, who was a farmer and maltster, is represented as a severe man,
who paid but little attention to the welfare of his offspring, whose education
j;Lai}t)ifiiDijis,iH a^i'iiiiff'ffir.
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. 45
he neglected daring their early years, and in whose establishment in the
world when arrived at the years of maturity, he took no interest. Nature,
however, had invested ihem with understandings superior to those of the
class of society in which they ranked, and notwithstanding the many disad-
vantages under which they laboured, their abilities became conspicuous in
their ultimate success and prosperity. This remark is more strictly appli-
cable to his ton Jedediah. Early in life he discovered an ardent desire for
his own improvement, which at last grew into an habitual and strong passion
for knowledge ; and unassisted by the usual aids for the acquisition of learn-
ing, he, by the powers of his own genius alone, acquired a considerable
acquaintance with literature and science. In the year 1754, Mr. Strutt took
a farm at Blackwell, in the neighbourhood of Normanton, and married.
Soon after this, about the year 1755, an event occurred which may be con-
sidered as the foundation of his future prosperity — it was to him that moment
which the poet describes as the
u
tide in the afiairs of men.
Which taken at the flood leads on to fortune."
Wm. Woolat, his wife's brother, who was a hosier, informed him of some
unsuccessful attempts that had been made to manufacture ribbed stockings
on the stocking-frame, which excited his curiosity, and induced him to
investigate that curious and complicated machine, with a view to effect what
others had attempted in vain. After much attention, labour, and ezpenae,
he succeeded in bringing the machine to perfection, and in the year 1756,
in conjunction with his brother-in-law, obtained a patent for the invention,
and removed to Derby, where he established an extensive manufacture for
ribbed stockings. The advantages resulting from this invention were not
confined to the patentees, for a very short time after the patent was obtained,
another was granted to the Messrs. Morris of Nottingham, for a machine
on a similar principle, but applied to the making of silk lace, a business
which since has been carried on to a very great extent. Subsequently, the
principle of the invention has been applied to a considerable variety of other
work. About the year 1771, Mr. Strutt entered into partnership with the
celebrated Sir Richard Arkwright, who was then engaged in the improve-
ment of his improved machinery for cotton spinning. But though the most
excellent yarn, or twist, was produced by this ingenious machinery, the
prejudice which often opposes new inventions was so strong against it, that
the manufacturers could not be prevailed upon to weave it into calicoes.
Mr. Strutt, therefore, in conjunction with Mr. S. Need, another partner,
attempted the manufacture of this article in the year 1773, and proved
successful ; but after a large quantity of calicoes had been made, it was
discovered that they were subject to double the duty (six-pence per yd.) on
cottons with linen warp, and when printed, were prohibited. They had,
therefore, no other resource than to ask relief of the legislature, which after
great expense, and a strong opposition from the Lancashire manufacturers,
they at length obtained. In the year 1775, Mr. Strutt began to erect the
cotton works at Belper, and afterwards at Milford, at each of which places
he resided many years. These ^manufiictures were carried on for a number
of years by Mr. Strutt himself, and since by his sons and grandsons.
46 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL 6LATER.
Mr. Need was partner of Mr. Strutt of Derby, and Mr. Strutt having:
seen Arkwiight's machine, and declared it to be an admirable invention,
onljr wanting an adaptation of some of the wheels to each other, both
Mr. Need and Mr. Strutt entered into partnership with Arkwright. Mr.
Strutt was brought up a farmer, but having a passion for improvement, and
a ^lechaDical genius, he succeeded in adapting the stocking-frame to the
m^ufacttire of ribbed stockings. He established an extensive manufacture
of ribbed stockings at Derby, and after his connection with Mr. Ailrwright
he erected cotton works at Milford, near Belper ; he raised his family to
great wealth. Some of the circumstances connected with Arkwright's
settling at Nottingham, were communicated by the late Mr. Wm. Strutt,
the highly gifted and ingenious son of Jedediah Strutt, to the editor of the
^^ Beauties of England and Wales."
Even to the present time, the course of improvement has not stopped.
Mules have been constructed, which do not require the manual aid of a
spinner, the mechanism being so contrived as to roll the spindle-carriage
out and in at the proper speed, without a hand touching it ; and the only
manual labour employed in these machines, which are called " self-acting
mules," is that of the children who join the broken threads. The first
machine of this nature was invented by the ingenious Mr. William Strutt,
F. R. S., of Derby, son of Jedediah Strutt, the partner of Arkwright ; and
the following mention is made of it in a memoir of that gentleman, written
by his son, Mr. Edward Strutt, at present member for Derby. William Strutt
died on the 29th of December, 1830, and the memoir appeared shortly after
in a periodical journal : — " Among his other inventions and improvements,
we may mention a self-acting mule for the spinning of cotton, invented more
than forty years ago, but we believe the inferior workmanship of that day
prevented the success of an invention, which all the skill and improvement
in the construction of machinery in the piesent day has barely accomplished."
This William Strult was the early companion of Slater, they were boys in
the mill together.
MEMOia OF 6AMUEL SLATER. 47
CHAPTER 11.
THE STATE OP MANUFACTURES PREVIOUS TO 1790.
** Neither affecting to conceal the imaller rills by which the itream waa fed, nor to
bring them so much into view as to deprive the principal object of its consequence."
In collecting the facts relative to the early attempts at manufac-
ture of cloths of various descriptions, I was much impressed with
the struggles which were to be made against obstacles nearly of
an insurmountable nature. The commencement was with im-
perfect machinery, obtained at great expense ; ignorance of their
operations ; difficulties of constructing even from patterns and
models, by such persons, who had no practical knowledge, and no
means of knowing the theory or philosophy of the machinery.
In addition to these perplexities, they had to encounter the free
importations of articles from Europe, at a much lower rate than
the home manufacturers could afford them. No wonder that they
did not succeed, but we may be astonished that they persevered in
their attempt. And we can now perdeive, that from those small
beginnings the present brightened prospects received their founda-
tion. From the best information that I can gather, the jenny
spinning, (with cards for rolls, and roving by hand), was first com-
menced in Beverly or Bridgewater, Mass. ; and to the honour of
that state it must be recorded, that the proprietors received assist-
ance from the legislature. But even legislative protection could
not support those small establishments against the superior
machinery of England. Much individual sacrifice \^as endured,
but these losses and vexatious experiments eventuated in the
pubhc good. We can now only record, to the praise of those brave
spirits of untiring enterprise who laid the foundation of our pre-
sent prosperity, such facts which must be their lasting praises.
Few can now imagine the privations and disappointments, that
attended these incipient measures; but immense establishments
have grown out of them, matured and perfected by all the im-
provements of the age.*
* The manufacturing business in this country, small as it began, is now
the first business of the age. It has already whitened the fields at the south
with the growing of cotton ; and covered the hills of the north with flourish-
ing flocks; while the north is made alive with the busy hum of industry, and
48 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
Previous to the war of the revolution, notwithstanding the re-
strictions which the colonies laboured under, manufactures kept
gaining ground ; but the war greatly retarded and embarrassed
many branches. Silk had made a good beginning at the soutfi,
as well as at the north ; and was receiving encouragement from
the mother country, in order to rival the French, in that important
national resource. Other manufactures in their incipient state,
were discouraged, and entirely failed. There was a great want
of mechanics, and but few emigrations from Europe. Even
tools and implements of husbandry were exceedingly scarce, and
sold at enormous prices.
Every attempt therefore to recommence, or begin anew any
domestic manufacture, had not only to contend with importations
from the East Indies, and from Europe ; but the want of machinery,
and the lack of artisans skilled in the various branches. This
is evident in the first attempts of the jenny spinning, and the
carding of rolls for woollen cloths. The evidence that will be
a great proportion of its population provided with an honest and lucrative
employment; and with suitable economy, made contented and happy with
the luxury of abundance. It was the being a witness of such mighty and
benevolent changes in the condition of our country, and in the character and
appearance of its inhabitants, that operated, not as a moderate impulse with
the writer to present to the public the biography of the man who, amid dis-
asters and diflScuIties, first put their springs in motion; and to present before
the public some of the surprising results.
The following document is the earliest of any direct proof of an associa-
tion to aid domestic industry, and as such it is worthy of preservation: ^^ A
number of inhabitants of the city and liberties of Philadelphia, having
entered into an agreement of co-partnership, under the name of the United
Company of Philadelphia, for promoting American manufactures, this is
to certify, that Tench Coxe hath paid his full subscription of ten pounds
towards the joint stock of the said company, whereby he is entitled to a vote
in the business of the company ; of all the profits arising from the said
manufactures, agreeable to the articles: — As witness my hand this eighth-
day of November 1775. Joseph Stiles, Treasurer."
The above Mr. Coxe was appointed .to congress, as R. Peters's letter from
the house of assembly, Philadelphia, shows :
Honourable Tench Coxe^ Esq,
Sir, — I have the honour to enclose a copy of the minnte of the general
assembly, by which it will appear that you are appointed a delegate to re-
present this state in congress, until the constitution for the government of
the United States shall be in operation. I am, sir.
Your very obedient serv't,
RicHARo Petebs, Speaker.
EARLY STATE OF MANUFACTURES. 49
incidentally produced in this volume, will show the weak and defi-
cient state of all kinds of manufactures, previous to 1790. This
period will be considered the era of their national conunencement.
It was in this year that the legislature of Massachusetts resolved
more efl^ctually to aid the Beverly company.* About the same time,
Jan. 16th, 1790, the house of representatives in congress called
on the secretary of the treasury to coltect information on the sub-
ject, which led to a full and extensive enquiry, and resulted in the
report of Alexander Hamilton, Dec. 5, 1791.
In examining American writers on this subject, I find no in-
dividual who conunenced so early, and who continued with such
unwavering perseverance, in the patriotic promotion of the growth
of cotton, as the only redundant staple which this country could
produce; and in the commencement and forwarding the cotton
manufacture, under every disadvantage and embarrassment — I find
no one appearing at the head and front of these measures equal to
Tench Coxe. From his refutation of Lord Sheffield,! to his last
draft of petition to congress on behalf of the tariff he continued
the same undeviating champion, through an active and useful life,
of domestic industry and economy ; and not even Hamilton him-
self deserves greater praise, in laying the foundation and in raising
the superstructure of the American system, than that enlightened
and energetic statesman. Incessantly engaged as he was, in those
departments of government which demanded the exertion " of all
his energies, we find him always with the labouring oar ; and
there can be no doubt that Washington's first secretary of the
treasury is indebted for those valuable statistics, which enabled
* The following advertisement, April 3d, 1782, is from the Pennsylvania
Gazette. A brief notice of the patriotic individual, who undoubtedly made
the first ^' Jeans, fustians," d&c. in America, will be inserted in the Ap-
pendix: —
" Philadelphia Manufactures — suitable for every season of the year, viz :
Jeans, Fustians, Everlastings, Coatings, &c., to be sold by the subscriber at
his dwelling house and manufactory, (which is now standing), in South
Alley, between Market street and Arch street, and between Fifth and Sixth
streets, on Hudson's square. Samuel Wetherill."
t The misconceptions in regard to American afiairs, which prevailed in
many parts of Europe in the year 1791, and particularly in the British
dominions, were deemed to be very great: they appeared to be founded, in
no small degree, on the disquisitions of Lord Sheffield. Tench Coxe de-
monstrated the errors of this writer, (whose observations had gone through
six editions, from 1783 to 1791), first ifi the *^ Museum^" and then in his
" View of the United States."
50 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL 8LATEB.
him to draw up his report on manufactures, to the important as-
sistance of Tench Coxe. If my limits would allow me to insert
his correspondence with every department of government, the
above remarks would be clearly demonstrated ; but I must con-
fine myself to a few.
The various disorders of 1787, and the want of a national system,
affected very severely a number of persons in the large towns who
were engaged in the different branches of manufactures. These
were more numerous and much more important than was at that
time perceived by persons of the closest observation. The laws
of some of the states imposed considerable duties upon the
fabrics of all the rest, in some instances as high as the impost on
similar articles manufactured in foreign countries. The remains
of the excessive importations of the four preceding years were
constantly offered for sale at prices lower than their cost in
Europe, and less than they could be made for in America. From
a deep sense of these inconveniences, exertions were commenced
in various parts of the United States, by persons of all descriptions,
to relieve the manufacturing citizens ; which appeared the more
desirable to many, because the necessary measures tended at the
same time to promote the great cause of union among the states,
and to repress habits of expense which the war, and the peace
Ukewise, though from very different causes, had introduced into
most of tJie towns, and too many parts of the country. The citi-
zens of Philadelphia took a very active part in these salutary
measures, and instituted a society, which afterwards proved of
considerable utility, to carry their views into execution. An
address was delivered by Tench Coxe to an assembly of the
friends of American manufactures, convened for the purpose of
establishing a society* for the encouragement of manufactures and
♦ The Plan of the ^^Pennsylvania Society for the Encouragement of
Manufactures and the Useful Art s^^^ founded in 1787.
The wealth and prosperity of nations principally depend on a due atten-
tion to agriculture, manufactures and commerce. In the various stages of her
political existence, America has derived great advantages from the establish-
ment of manufactures and the useful arts. Her present situation in the world
calls her, by new and weighty considerations, to promote and extend them.
The United States, having assumed the station of an independent govern-
ment, require new resources to support their rank and influence, both abroad
and at home. Our distance from the nations of Europe, — our possessing
within ourselves the materials of the useful arts, and ai tides of consumption
and commerce, — the profusion of wood and water, (those powerful and
necessary agents in all arts and manufactures,) the variety of natural produc-
tions with which this extensive country abounds, and the number of people
EAULY STATE OF MANUFACTURES. 61
the useful arts, in the University of Pennsylvania, on Thursday,
the 9th of August, 1787, and published at their request.
in our towns, and most ancient settlements, whose education has qualified
them for employments of this nature, — all concur to point out the necessity
of our promoting and establishing manufactures among ourselves. From a
conviction of the truth and imponance of these facts, a number of persons
have agreed to associate themselves. Every memher, on his admission, shall
pay to the treasurer the sum of ten shillings, and the same sum annually,
which shall go into the general fund, to defray the necessary expenses of
the society, to confer premiums, and to accomplish every other salutary
measure consistent with the design of the institution. For the better
employment of the industrious poor, and in order to render the society as
useful as possible, a subscription, for sums of not less than ten pounds, from
any one person or company, shall be immediately opened to all persons
whatever, for the purposes of establishing factories in such places as shall
he thought most suitable ; to be called, " The Manufacturing Fund."
The Hon. Tench Coxe, Esq., Philadelphia,
Boston, June 14, 1792.
My dear sir, — I have perused with renewed pleasure your remarks on
the state of the Union, which you have obligingly inclosed to me. I shall
think it useful on every account to cause them to be republished in our
gazettes. The principles and facts are valuable as an acquisition to our
political literature. But their tendency to foster an affection for the Union,
in which self-love so plainly co-operates with patriotism, and their efficacy
against the silly charges of our own malcontents, render them peculiarly useful
and seasonable. A Biiton, too, is ready enough to believe that the civilised
world reaches no further than the Land's-End. You have furnished good
physic to cure him of his prejudices. It has been too long the fashion to
listen to the rant of eloquent ignorance. Our newspapers were formerly
stuffed with declamation, almost without a single fact. Your publication
not only furnishes knowledge to the public mind, but it establishes princi-
ples of discipline, which will assist in producing more for itself. Accord-
ingly I beg you to accept my thanks for your work.
The bank mania, though checked, is not cured. This state has rejected
a proposal for a state bank. But the defeated still hope success in some
other form. Happily, our interests as a state are better founded than our
opinions. Trade prospers, ships are in demand ; the rate at which they are
chartered is said to be high beyond what has been known in common times.
Produce sells readily, and at a good price ; yet the merchants complain
that trade is overburdened. In short, there is scarcely any thing that seems
to languish.
I am, with sentiments of esteem and regard, yonr obliged and obedient
humble servant, Fisher Ames.
TVie Hon. Tench Coxe, Esq., Philadelphia.
Boston, July 11th, 1793.
My dear sir, — You will please, with my thanks for the inclosure of the
ingenious remarks on the scheme of a manufacturing town, to accept an
52 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL 8LATEB.
From the petition to the legislature of Massachusetts, and other
collateral facts, the evidence is conclusive that cotton spinning in
this country, further than the hand-card and one thread wheel,
was carried through its first struggles by the Beverly company in
Massachusetts. What was done in Bridgewater, must have been a
small concern. In accordance with the general spirit of enterprise
and indefatigable exertions among the citizens of Massachusetts,
in all local and national concerns, the Beverly company, with tre-
mendous obstacles in view and at the risk of their fortunes, made an
attempt to accomplish an object which they knew would ultimately
promote and extend the wealth and establish the independence of
the united colonies — who had just emerged from European oppres-
sion, and declared to the world that they were, of right, free and
independent j the monarchs of the world having acknowledged
their national existence. The eagle-eyed legislature of the old
Plymouth colony foresaw, that, without protection of their national
industry, their independence was but a name, and that they had
apology for the delay of an answer. Knowing that printers are more fond
of publishing amusing than instructive tracts, I had doubts of the punctual
insertion of the piece, and I chose to delay my answer till it had been done.
The Centinel has at length given it to the public. While the discussion of
the subject afibrds pleasure and instruction to the political economists, it
coincides perfectly well with the prevailing temper and views of the eastern
states. Even if it should be doubted whether manufacturing companies
will prove profitable to the adventurers, yet as a very efficient means of
introducing and perfecting the arts among us, there can be no question of
their ultimate usefulness. The spirit of enterprise has of late been uncom-
monly ardent. Your observations are well adapted to the making it both
inquisitive and cautious. I cannot forbear noticing, also, the great propriety
and advantages of interesting the hopes of our citizens in the operations of
a government of sufficient energy to protect and reward their industry and
enterprise. So much is done by incendiaries to make the people hate and
fear it, I think it a task worthy of a patriot and philosopher, to hold up the
bright side of the case. You have done so well heretofore, especially in the
refutation of Lord Sheffield, that the federal men have placed a reliance on
your continued attention to the same subjects, as time and circumstances
may render their further elucidation necessary. It is not many years since
the encourageihent of the arts was deemed an Utopian scheme in our country.
One would think experience had fully proved the solidity of the principles
of the advocates for manufactures. But even yet the southern gentlemen
hold it up as a bugbear of usurpation of power, and dissipation of public
money. You have stated facts which ought to have the effect of undeceiving
them ; and if the spirit of party could be reasoned down, I should suppose
you had done it. I am, dear sir, with sentiments of esteem, &c. &c.
Fisher Ames.
EABLT STATE OF MANUFACTURES. 63
lost the bravest of their sons, had fought and conquered, and
still remained subservient to the aggrandisement of their ene-
mies.
Rhode Island caught her spirit of manufacturing from the Beverly
company, which had been formed in Massachusetts, and from this
company she received her patterns of machinery and the mode of
operating the machinery ; though it must be acknowledged, that
both states were indebted to foreign emigrants for instruction and
assistance in spinning and weaving, and also in preparing the
cotton.
At the recent great meeting in Boston, on the subject of opening
a rail road to Albany, the infant difficulties of domestic manufac-
tures were thus adverted to by Mr. Hallet : —
" We talk now of the future, in regard to railways, with doubt,
as of an experiment yet to be tested, and many look upon the cal-
culations of the sanguine as mere speculating dreams. Here is a
new avenue about to be opened to the development of resources,
and yet men hesitate to go forward. Let us test what we can
reasonably anticipate in this, by what we know has happened, in
the development of resources once deemed quite as visionary,
through another medium of industry and enterprise — domestic
manufactures. There is not an adult among us who cannot re-
member the time when it was a source of mortification to be
dressed in homespun. Now, our own fabrics are among the best
and richest staSs of every day consumption, and the products of
our looms are preferred even in foreign countries. Forty years
ago, who would have dared to conjure up the visions of such
manufacturing cities as Lowell, and Fall River, your Ware, Walt-
ham, and the hundreds of flourishing villages which now consti-
tute the most prosperous conmiunities in this commonwealth?
How small and feeble was the beginning of all this ! In 1787, the
first cotton mill in this state was got up in Beverly, by John Cabot
and others, and in three years it was nearly given up, in con-
sequence of the difficulties which the first beginning of the deve-
lopment of the vast resources of domestic industry, in our state,
hsid to encounter. 1 hold in my hand," said Mr. Hallet, <<a document
of uncommon interest, on this subject, found in the files of the
Massachusetts senate ; which will show the early struggles of
domestic manufactures, and the doubts entertained of their success,
more forcibly than any fact that can be stated. It is the petition
of the proprietors of the little Beverly cotton mill, in 1790, for aid
firom the legislature to save them from being compelled to abandon
the enterprise altogether.
64 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
Petition of the Proprietors of the Beverly Cotton Manufacture.
" To the senate and house of representatives of the commonwealth of Mas-
sachusetts, in general court assembled, June 2, 1790 — The proprietors of
the Beverly Cotton Manufactory beg leave to represent, that the establish-
ment of a manufacture of cotton, in imitation of the most useful and ap-
proved stuffs which are formed of that material in Europe, and thence
continually imported into this country at a very great expense, has been
attempted by the said proprietors. This attempt commenced in the yeai
1787, from a consideration of the extensive public advantages to be obtained
by it; and on this occasion your petitioners may be permitted to declare that
in that view of the subject, the hazard of their private property, and the
many obstacles which have since deprived them of every hope of present
emolument to themselves, were overlooked. The design has been prosecuted,
although it has proved much more arduous and expensive than was at first
conceived, and under very discouraging circumstances, so far as to demon-
strate that it is practicable ; and that the manufacture, being once established,
will be sufficiently lucrative to support and extend itself, and will afford not
only a supply for domestic consumption, but a staple for exportation. The
general use within the United Slates of imported cotton goods is well known
to this court. It may be necessary to suggest for their reflection, that articles
of this extensive consumption among us have been provided by foreigners,
whose commerce we have thus encouraged, and that in this, as in other in-
stances, we have been draining our country of a circulating medium to con-
tribute to the wealth and populousness of Great Britain. Removing the
occasion of this destructive traffic is not the only public advantage to be
derived from the manufacture of cotton, as undertaken by the said proprietors.
The raw material is procured in exchange for fish, the most valuable export
in the possession of this state, and, at this time, in great need of encourage-
ment. It must be evident that the cod fishery will be essentially encouraged
by extending the demand for the imports to be obtained by it. This manu-
facture finds employment and support for a great number of persons, and
among others for infirm women and children. In its immediate operation,
and in the commerce and navigation connected w^ith it, this honourable court
will not fail to discover the beneficial influence of this manufacture, and
especially upon the landed interest, by the increase of people and national
wealth, which may be expected from it. The said proprietors, in the pro-
secution of their design, have necessarily incurred a variety of expenses
and losses, which succeeding adventurers cannot be liable to. Among those
experienced by us, are the following, viz: — The extraordinary price of
machines unknown to our mechanics, intricate and difficult in their con-
struction, without any model in the country, and only to be effected by
repeated trials, and long attention ; one instance among many of the kind is
a carding machine, which cost the proprietors eleven hundred dollars, and
which can now be purchased for two hundred dollars. The extraordinary
loss of materials in the instruction of their servants and workmen, while so
many are new, and the additional losses sustained by the desertion of these,
when partly informed, and by the increase of wages to prevent it, in conse-
quence of the competition of rival manufactories. The present want of that
perfection and beauty in their goods, which long established manufactories
can exhibit, from the skill of their workmen, but principally from the use of
EARLY STATE OP MANUFACTURES. 55
machines which yoar petitioners have as yet found too expensive for them to
procure ; (meaning the Arkwright patents). But not to trouble your honours
with details which would encroach too much on the time of this court, your
petitioners have ever conceived that the government of this conmionwealth
would at least indemnify them for these extraordinary expenses and losses ;
which cannot be reimbursed by any future success of their design, since the
models of machines, and the essential information obtained at their ex-
pense, is open to every succeeding adventurer. The expenditure of the said
proprietors has already amounted to nearly the sum of £4,000, the value
of their remaining stock is not equal to £2000, and a further very considerable
advancement is absolutely necessary to obtain that degree of perfection in
this manufacture, which alone can ensure its success. This necessary
addition to their stock will enable the proprietors to rival in beauty, perfec-
tion, and cheapness, the European manufactures ; and in that case, they shall
willingly trust In the prudence and patriotism of their countrymen for a pre-
ference. But the proprietors having already hazarded, some their whole
fortunes, and others very large sums, are obliged to declare, that, without aid
from this honourable court, no further advancement can be made. And,
mortifying as it is, they feel themselves in the necessity of relinquishing a
design highly beneficial to the public, and undertaken by them from the
purest motives. The intended aid by a grant of land, made by a former
legislature to the said petitioners, has not in any degree answered tjie pur-
pose of it. Your proprietors now pray, that, in lieu of that grant, some more
real and ready assistance may be afforded them ; submitting to the wisdom
of the honourable court the particular mode of effecting it. Your petilioDers
conceive that the establishment of a manufacture, which gives encourage-
ment to the most valuable branch of commerce possessed by this state, which
must in its operation increase the number of people, and prevent those emi-
grations which have become so frequent, and are so dangerous to the landed
interest ; a manufacture which, once established, will retain amongst us
large sums of our circulating medium, and greatly increase the wealth of
our country, cannot fail of the attention and protecting influence of this
honourable court, and in this confidence they still anticipate the success of
their design ; and as in duty bound will ever pray, &c.
John Cabot, } *,
Joshua Fish'er, 5^ ^°^&^"-
" This petition," said Mr. Hallet, in a discussion of a proposed
rail road, in Faneuil Hall, Boston, " was referred to the committee
of both houses for the encouragement of arts, agriculture, and
manufactures, (of which Nathaniel Gorham was chairman,) and
with all the lights which that intelligent committee then had on
this subject, destined to become one of the greatest means of de-
veloping resources ever opened to national prosperity, they
cautiously reported that * from the best information we can obtain,
we are of opinion that the said manufactory is of great public
utility. But owing to the great expenses incurred in providing
machines, and other incidents usually attending a new business,
the said manu&ctory is upon the decline, and unless some public
56 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
assistance can be afforded, is in danger of failing. Your com-
mittee therefore report, as their opinion, that the petitioners have
a grant of one thousand pounds, to be raised in a lottery :' on
condition that they give bonds that the money be actually ap-
propriated in such a way as will most effectually promote the
' manufacturing' of cotton piece goods, in this eonunonwealth.
, . . . . Where now is the little Beverly cotton
mill ? And what has been the mighty development of resources
in domestic industry in forty-five years, since the date of that
petition, when the wisest men among us had got no farther than
to a belief that the said manufactory was of great public utility !
Is there any vision of the great public utility of railways," said
Mr. Hallet, << which can go beyond what now is, and what will be
in forty years, that can exceed in contrast what we know once
was and now is, in the development of resources by the invest-
ment of capital and industry in domestic manufactures ? The
petitioners for the little Beverly cotton mill were doubtless deemed
to be absurdly extravagant, when they hinted that the manufac-
ture of cottons would one day, not only afford a supply for
domestic consumption, but a staple for exportation. But what do
we now see ? Our domestic fabrics find a market in every clime,
and vessels, lying at your wharves, are receiving these goods to
export to Calcutta.
" The world is beginning to understand the true uses of wealth,
to develope the resources of the country ; and it is in great enter-
prises, which benefit the public more than those immediately con-
cerned in them, that we have a practical demonstration of the
doctrine of the greatest good of the greatest number. Much is
said, and more feared, about the divisions of the rich and the poor.
But in truth, in our happy institutions, we need have no poor,
forming a distinct class among the citizens. Where is your popu-
lace, your rabble? is an enquiry which has often puzzled the
foreigner who has passed through our streets when thronged by a
multitude. We have no populace — no rabble, but free and in-
dependent citizens. What has made them so ? The develop-
ment of our resources. What has stopped the tide of emigration
that once threatened to depopulate New England? The develop-
ment of our resources. Go on developing these resources, and
there need be no fear of setting the poor against the rich, for there
will be no poor to set against them. All will be rich, for they
will have enough ; and no man is in reality any richer for possess-
ing what he cannot use. When men of capital are found hoard-
ing it, holding it back from enterprises, and cautious of doing any
EARLY STATE OP MANUFACTUBE8. 67
thing to develope the resources of a community, there is then just
cause to fear the operation of unequal and injurious distinctions.
Take from industry and enterprise the means of acquiring wealth,
cut off conmierce, manufactures, canals, and railways, and you
will lay the surest foundation possible for the despotism of one
class over another. But open all these great resources to all —
extend your facilities of intercourse throughout the country, and
you cannot repress the energies of men ; you cannot keep them
poor long enough to mark them as a class. Your gradations in
society will be stepped over, forward and backward, so often, that
no distinct line can be kept up. This is the vast moral power,
which is exerted on society by the investment of capital for public
benefit, without unjust privileges ; in great projects. Here are the
true uses of wealth, in a government like ours, and this great
specific lies at the bottom of the philosophy of our political
economy. Develope the resources of the country — place the
mesms of wealth within the reach of industry, and you produce
the happy medium in society. All will then move forward evenly,
as on the level of a rail road, with occasional inclined planes and
elevations, but none that can stop the powerful locomotives which
impel forward every New Englander — enterprise and moral
energy."
The action on this petition, and the previous grant of land,
are the first acts on record of direct legislative encouragement
to domestic manufactures in the state of Massachusetts ; and there-
fore it is a document of great interest highly honourable to the
enterprise of the citizens of Massachusetts, and to the sagacity
of her legislature. Some assistance appears to have been granted
to Mr. Orr* of Massachusetts, and it is thought to have been done
previous to the grant to Beverly.
* In 1786, Robert and Alexander Barr, brothers, from Scotland, were
employed by Mr. Orr, to erect carding, spinning, and roping machines in his
works at East Bridgewater, where they were made. On the 16th Nov. 1786,
the general court of Massachusetts, to encourage the machinists, made them
a grant of 200/., lawful money, for their ingenuity, and afterwards added to
the bounty by giving them six tickets in the state land lottery in which
there were no blanks.
In March 1787, Thomas Somers, (an English midshipman,) under the
direction of Mr. Orr, also constructed a machine, or model, and by a resolve
of the general court of the same date 20/. lawful money, was placed in the
hands of Mr. Orr to encourage him in the enterprise.
The above machines and model remained in Mr. Orr's possession, for
the inspection of all disposed to see them ; and he was requested by the
8
68 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
As there are several claimants from states and individuals, for
the honour of having commenced the first carding and spinning
of cotton, it will probably be more satisfactory to the parties con-
cerned, and to the public, to insert their own accounts of their
first operations, from which a judgment can be formed of the
merits of the case.
" To the Board of Managers of the Ptnnsyhania Society for promoting
Manufactures and Useful Arts,
"The report of the conmiittee for manufactures: — This com-
mittee, considering that the business in which they are engaged
had attracted the public notice, and that it would be expected
some account should be given of the progress and present state of
the institution, in August began an enquiry into the state of their
funds, their stock of goods, machines, and utensils, by which they
are enabled to lay before you the following statement, and they
flatter themselves it affords a pleasing prospect of future success.
It is now about twelve months since this society was formed, and
subscriptions were entered into, some of which, for various causes,
have not yet been paid. They therefore state the amount of the
subscriptions received to the 23d August, and show tho manner in
which the money hath been applied.
" Amount of cash received of contributors, when
exchanged for specie. £1327 lOi. 6rf.
Prom this, deduct for machines, utensils and
fitting up the house for the manufactory, £453 lOf. 2d.
Which leaves a circulating capital of £874 Qs. 4dL
'• With a view to meet one idea of the subscribers, the employ-
ment of the poor, and to promote the other objects of the institu-
tion, the conmiittee purchased a quantity of flax, and employed
between two and three hundred women in spinning linen yum
during the winter and spring, and also engaged workmen to make
general court to exhibit them, and to give all information and explanation
in his power respecting them.
It is believed that the above, in 17S6, was the first jenny and stock card
made in the United States.
It is said that the first muskets ever made in America were made by Mr.
Orr. Also the first nails made by machinery were manufactured at Bridge-
water, Massachusetts.
EARLY STATE OP MANUFACTUEES. 69
a carding engine, and four jennies, of forty, forty-four, sixty, and
eighty spindles, for spinning of cotton ; and, as soon as the season
would permit the house to be fitted up, they were set to work.
It is unnecessary to observe on the difficulties which occur in so
arduous an undertaking as attempting to establish manufactures
in a country not much acquainted with them — such as finding
artists, and making machines without models, or but imperfect
ones. The committee have further had various obstructions
thrown in their way by foreign agents, of which you have already
been informed. From these causes, it happened, that it was the
12th of April, J 788, before the first loom was set to work ; the
number has been since increased to twenty-six, and in them have
been wrought the following goods, to August 23d : —
"Of jeans, 2969^ yards, corduroys, 197i, federal rib, 67, beaver
fiistian, 67, plain cottons, 1667i, linen, 726, tow linen, 1337i —
total 7111 yards. Besides in the looms two hundred yards of
jeans, corduroys, cottons, and linen ; out of which manu&ctured
goods they had sold, at this time, of jean, dyed cotton and linen
yam, fine and tow linen, d^c. to the amount of four hundred and
forty-eight pounds, five shillings, and eleven pence half-penny,
besides which, in order to show the state of the factory to the 23d
of August, 1788, in a clearer light, they subjoin the following
statement of the stock account : —
STOCK, DR.
To cash, £1327 10 6i
To debts due sundry persons, .... 375 9
To profit, 72 4 9i
£1776 4 4
CR.
By utensils, &c £463 2 6
Goods on hand at the bleachers and printers, 732 14 11
Materials and linen yam on hand, . . 550 2 6
Outstanding debts, 38 16 9
£1775 4 4
" In addition to the enumerated articles manufactured to the
23d of August, we annex the following to Nov. 1 : — Jeans, 759^
yards, corduroys, 383iy flowered cotton, 39, cottons, 2095, flax
60 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
linens, 123, tow linens, 494, bird e3re, 123 — total, 4016 yards. And
about two hundred and forty yards of different kinds of goods now
in the looms, the whole amounting to eleven thousand three hun-
dred and sixty seven yards; and there has also been manufactured
by the twisting mill, about one hundred and eighty five pounds of
plain, coloured, and knitting thread ; since the first of August,
also, a hundred and ninety yards of cottons have been printed ;
and it may be observed, that the want of proper bleach-3rards, and
the difliculty of procuring persons well skilled in bleaching, con-
tributed to prevent the quantity being printed which was intended.
" The committee have now laid before you a statement of their
proceedings, and might adduce many arguments to prove the
propriety, and indeed the necessity, of giving every encourage-
ment to establish this valuable branch of internal trade ; but they
apprehend that the motives which gave birth to the association
have not lost their energy, either from the result of these experi-
ments, or the prospect of future success, and they do not hesitate
to add, that every view of the subject fully proves the peculiar
importance of the cotton manufacture to this country, and the
possibility (with proper exertions) of giving it a permanency,
which, they doubt not, will prove a source both of private and
public wealth. Impressed with these sentiments, and feeling
sensibly our late dependence on foreign nations for many of the
most usefiil articles of life, it is certain that, unless there are great
exertions of virtue and industry, we must still remain in the same
disadvantageous situation ; whilst on the other hand, if we pursue
the plan of establishing manufactures amongst ourselves, we
thereby open an extensive field of employment for persons of
almost every description.*
Samuel Wetherill, Jr.
Chairman pro tem."
* The views which led to the early encoura^ment of manufactures, are
in part expressed in the following extract from Hamilton's Report.
'* The expediency of encouraging manufactures in the United States,
which was not long since deemed very questionable, appears at this time to
be pretty generally admitted. The embarrassments about the period of
1791, are veiy generally acknowledged. The obstructions of our external
trade have led to serious reflections on the necessity of enlarging the sphere of
our domestic commerce ; the restrictive regulations, which in foreign markets
abridge the vent of the increasing surplus of our agricultural produce, serve
to beget an earnest desire that a more extensive demand for that surplus
may be created at home ; and the complete success which has rewarded
manufacturing enterprise in some valuable branches, conspiring with the
promising symptoms which attend some less mature essays in others, justify
EARLY STATE OF MANUFACTURES. 61
Notwithstanding the laudable and persevering efforts made by
the people of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and soon after, of
Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut, they entirely failed, and
4saw their hopes and prospects prostrate. In looking for the causes
of such disasters, we find no deficiency of enterprise or exertion,
none of funds, and none of men who were ready and willing to
engage in the business, and no lack of patronage firom the govern-
ments, they having learned from experience the privations during
a hope, that the obstacles to the growth of this species of industry, are less
formidable than they were apprehended to be ; and that it is not difficult to
find, in its further extension, a full indemnification for any external disad-
vantages which are or may be experienced, as well as an accession of
resources, favourable to national independence and safety.
" It ought readily to be conceded, that the cultivation of the earth — as the
primary and most certain source of national supply ; as the immediate and
chief source of subsistence to man ; as the principal source of those mate-
rials which constitute the nutriment of other kinds of labour ; as including
a state most favourable to the freedom and independence of the human
mind ; one, perhaps, most conducive to the multiplication of the human
species — has intiinsically a strong claim to pre-eminence over every other
kind of industry. But that it has a title to any thing like an exclusive pre-
dilection, in any country, ought to be admitted with great caution. That it
is even more productive than every other branch of industry, requires more
evidence than has yet been given in support of the position. That its real
interests, precious and important as without the help of exaggeration they
truly are, will be advanced rather than injured by the due encouragement
of manufactures, may, it is believed, be satisfactorily demonstrated. And it
is also believed, that the expediency of such encouragement, in a general
view, may be shown to be recommended by the mosj cogent and persuasive
motives of national policy."
" The only thing that reconciled the British ministry to the peace of
independence was the prospect of our becoming one of their best customers.
The prejudices of Americans, who thought the country too young for manu-
facturing, and that the arts, by introducing luxury, would also introduce
vice, and wean them from that simplicity of manners which was believed
exclusively to belong to the agricultural life ; the predilection which nearly
half the community, especially the rich, had for the fabrics of the mother
country, and the influence which the merchants have had in our councils,
all continued to prevent the introduction of clothing manufactories into these
states. Time, however, and experience, have demonstrated, that luxury
and vice may find their way into a country where manufacturing is discou-
raged; that, by a spirit of traffic, foreign luxuries are introduced, and a
restless migratory life robs a nation of its innocence and simplicity. Years
have weaned many from European attachments, and the intelligent part of
the merchants perceive that commerce would increase by maltiplying and
diversifying the objects of our indiutrv." — Mease.
€2 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
revolutionary war. All must be attributed to the fact, that,
during all the incipient struggles, Great Britain had in operation
a series of superior machinery, which Massachusetts and Rhode
Island had endeavoured to obtain in vain. The present state of the
American manufactures shows what has grown out of such dis-
astrous beginnings, and furnishes one among the many evidences
which may be found, not to despair in the day of adversity.
The following is the account, furnished by Wm. Anthony, of
the commencement of Cotton Spinning in Rhode Island : —
" About the year 1788, Daniel Anthony, Andrew Dexter, and
Lewis Peck, all of Providence, entered into an agreement to make
what was then called " home-spun cloth." The idea at first was
to spin by hand, and make jeans with linen warp and cotton fill-
ing, but hearing that Mr. Orr, of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, had
imported some model of machinery from England, for the pur-
pose of spinning cotton, it was agreed that Daniel Anthony
should go to Bridgewater and get a draught of the model of said
machine ; he, in company with John Reynolds, of East Greenwich,
who had been doing something in the manufacturing of wool,
went to Bridgewater, and found the model of the machine spoken
of, in possession of Mr. Orr, but not in operation. It was not the
intention of Mr. Orr* to operate it, but he only kept it for the in-
spection of those who might have an inclination to take draughts.
The model of the machine was very imperfect, and was said to
be taken from one of the first built in England. A draught of
this machine was accordingly taken, and laid aside for a while.
They then proceeded to build a machine of a difierent construction
called a jenny ; I understood that a model of this machine was
brought from England, into Beverly, Massachusetts, by a man of
the name of Summers. This jenny had twenty-eight spindles ; the
wood work was built (qt Richard Anthony, the spindles and brass
were made by Daniel Jackson, an ingenious coppersmith of Pro-
Tidence. This jenny was finished in 1787. It was first set up in
a private house and afterwards removed to the market house
chamber in Providence, and operated there.
"Joshua Lindly of Providence was then engaged to build a card-
ing machine, for carding the cotton agreeably to the draught pre-
sented, also obtained from Beverly. This machine was something
similar to the one now used for carding wool, the cotton being
taken off the machine in rolls, and roped by hand ; after some
* Mr. On receired a compensation from government for presenting it for
inspection. It was therefore called the State's Model.
EARLY STATE OF MANUFACTURES. 63
delay this machine was finished. They then proceeded to build
a spinning frame after the draught obtained at Bridgewater. This
machine was something similar to the water-frame now in use,
but very imperfect ; it consisted of eight heads of four spindles
each, being thirty-two spindles in all, and was operated by a crank
turned by hand. The first head was made by John Baily, an in-
genious clock-maker of Pembroke, Massachusetts, the other seven
heads, together with the brass work and spindles, were made by
Daniel Jackson of Providence, the wood work was made by
Joshua Lindly of said Providence. In 1788, Joseph Alexander
and James M'Kerris, natives of Scotland, arrived in Providence,
both being weavers, and understanding the use of the fly-shuttle ;
they were engaged to weave corduroy. Mr. Alexander to weave a
piece in Providence, and Mr. M^Kerris went to East Greenwich to
work there. A loom was accordingly built after the directions of
Mr. Alexander, and put in operation in the market house chamber;
this was the first fly-shuttle ever used in Rhode Island. A piece
of corduroy was there woven, the warp being linen and the filling
cotton, but as there was no person to be found who could cut the
corduroy, and raise the pile which makes the ribs on the face of
the cloth, and give it the finish, it was thought best to abandon
that kind of cloth. Mr. Alexander left Providence, and went to
Philadelphia ; Mr. M'Kerris continued to work in Greenwich for
some years. This appears to be the beginning of the jenny spin-
ning in Rhode Island, and undoubtedly originated with the above
company.
" The spinning frame (the one attempted from the state's model),
after being tried for some time in Providence, was carried to Paw-
tucket and attached to a wheel propelled by water — the work of
turning the machine was too laborious to be done by hand, and
the machine was too imperfect to be turned by water. Soon after
this, the machine was sold to Mr. Moses Brown of Providence, but
as all the carding and roping was done by hand it was very im-
perfect, and but little could be done. This was the situation of
cotton manufacturing in Rhode Island, when Mr. Samuel Slater
arrived in this country ; then all this imperfect machinery was
thrown aside, and machinery more perfect built under his direc-
tion. About the time the above machinery was being made, John
Fullem, a native of Ireland, a stocking weaver by trade, settled in
East Greenwich. He had a stocking loom, and his object was to
weave stockings for the inhabitants generally ; but not succeeding
there to his wishes, he went to Providence, and sold his loom to
Moses and Smith Brown, and still continued to operate it under
64 MEMOIE OP SAMUEL SLATER.
the superintendence of Smith Brown ; but the business was found
unprofitable, and was abandoned.
" About the time the above machinery was put into operation,
Herman Vandausen, a native of Germany, came to East Green-
wich, and imdertook the business of calico printing, being a calico
printer by trade ; he went to work, cut his types on wood, and
began to print ; his object was to print for the people generally, and
many people wove coarse cotton cloth in their families, and had it
printed. The calico looked much like that imported from India in
that day, and was not much, if any, inferior to that cloth. Some
samples of the cloth printed by Mr. Yandausen was shown (by a
gentleman that now lives in Providence) to Mr. John Brown, who
was then about trading to India. Mr. Brown gave some en-
couragement of assistance, but as it was found cheaper to import
than to make them here, the busine^ss was given up."
In addition to the communication of Wm. Anthony, in con-
versation with Joseph Anthony, of Providence, R. I., the oldest son
of Daniel Anthony, he fully concurred in the above statement
He stated that his brother Richard Anthony made the first jenny
in Rhode Island, probably under the direction of his father, who
it is thought spun the first yarn from jennies, by the assistance of
his sons. There were thirty spindles on the jenny. The card-
ing machine produced a roll eighteen inches long. It was then
taken by a woman, and roped on a hand wheel. The same Daniel
Anthony made hand-cards during the revolutionary war ; but no
machinery was obtained till after the independence of the states.
David Bufliim bought a jenny, and Joseph Anthony spun on it
at Newport two years, and obtained warp at Slater's mill, but they
failed in their attempt. These were the machines purchased by
Moses Brown, and referred to in the following letter to Mr. Slater.
Extract of a letter to Samuel Slater from Motes Brown.
PR0viDE2fCE, 10th of 12th month, 1789.
We have two machines of this kind, one of thirty-two spindles, the other
of twenty-four. They have been worked, and spun about one hundred and
fifty skeins of cotton yarn, from ^ve to eight skeins of fifteen lays round a
reel of two yards to the pound ; but the person whom we let the mill to,
being unacquainted with the business, and the mills probably not perfected,
be could not make wages in attending them, and therefore they are at pre-
sent still. We then wrought hand roping and the carding machine was not
in order. We have since got a jenny, and are putting on fine cards to the
machine : these with an eighty-four and a sixty spinning jenny, and a
doubling and twisting jenny, compose the priocipal machinery aboot our
maaofiictory. We hare from Ireland a man and liiui wife, who are spinnen
EARLY STATS OF MANUFACTURES. 66
OD the jennies, but we are destitute of a person acquainted with the frames.
We shall be glad to be informed what quantity of yarn your mills spin in a
day on one spindle. What number of spindles a lad can, or does attend}
and at what age? How your roping is made, what fineness, whether twist-
ed harder or softer than for jennies ? Whether the cotton is soaped before
carding, as that for the jenny, or not at all? What the wooden rollers in the
mills are covered with ? Ours have been done with calf-skin. How the taking
up is regulated. Ours is by leather strings ? On what the spools play and
run, on irons ?
The following document will show the extent to which the firm
of Almy 6c Brown had carried their operations about this period :
An Account of the Ck>tt<m Goods manufactured by Almy ^ Brown^ of Pro-
vidence, state of Rhode Island, since the commencement of the business,
say about the llth of 6th month, 1789, to the 1st of 1st month, 1791.
Corduroy, 45 pieces, 1090yds. sold from 3s. Qd. to 4^. per yd.
Royal Ribs, Denims, d&c. 25 " 558 '< 3s. is.
CottoneU, 13 « 324 " 2s. Qd. 3s.
Jeans, 79 " 1897 " 2s. 2s. 6d.
Fustians, 26 « 687 " Is.Sd. 2s.
Total 189 pieces. 4556yds.
u
ti
u
is. to
is. id.
3s. 6d.
is.
3s. Qd.
is.
3s. 6d.
is.
3s.
is.
2s.
2s. 6d.
U.Sd.
2s.
Almt & Brown.
From the 1st day of the 1st month, 1791, to the present date.
Velverets, 30 pieces, 669yds. sold from 4^.
Thicksets, 30 " 745 "
Corduroy, 45 " 1001 "
Fancy Cords, 26 " 664 "
Royal Ribs, Denims, &c. 55 " 1284
Jeans, 74 " 1769
Fustians, 66 " 1691
Total 326 pieces. 7823yds.
Providence, lOth month, 15th, 1791.
Andrew Dexter was an English goods merchant in Boston, and
removed to Providence in 1785. His store was near where the
Arcade now stands. He was the brother of Samuel Dexter, of
Boston, who was secretary of the treasury and of the war depart-
ment, and a senator of the United States. This gentleman assisted
in the commencement of making machines for manufacturing
cotton. His debtor account with the business commenced Sept.
8th, 1788, in which I find a machine for calendering cotton goods ;
the first charge is dated March 8th, 1790 ; this calender was put
up in Moses Brown's bam, and worked by a horse. The extracts
9
66 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
here furnished from his leger show the connection existing between
Dexter, and Ahny and Brown, and the operatives employed by
them ; and very fairly elucidate the very limited nature of the
manufacturing business in general. The extracts are all certified
as true copies, by George H. Peck.
Mosea Brovm to Andrew Dexter, Dr.
1789. £. 8. d.
May 18. To my obligation of this day, 45 00 00
To spinning jenny complete, sold him per agreement
at the bills, viz :
To Nathaniel Gilmer's bill, forging 60 spindles,
and other iron work £3 19
81b. 7oz. steel for spindles, at lOd. 7
3 8 9
To Elijah Bacon's bill for stufi; ... 18 9
To Oliver Carpenter's bill for 60 whirls, 10
To Daniel Jackson's bill, .... 4 13 9
To Joshua Lindley's bill, .... 1183
To cash paid for wire at several times, 3 9
To James BurrelPs bill for cylinder, 2 8
To Job Danforth's bill for stuff, ... 86
To cash paid for pulleys Is. 4d., do. for wire
and line, 6d 1 10
To do. do. for screws lid., do. for wire,
2s. 4d 3 3
24 4 10
£69 4 10
1789. Cr.
June 27. By one and half chest tea, received of Brown and
Benson on his acct. nt. wt. as per bill,
383
188
5711b. at Is. 8d. 47 11 8
Nov. 5. By 13291b. beef received of Judge Aldridge, 16s. 8d. 11 1 6
By one calf-skin 12
Jan. 25. By 128ilb. sole leather at 14d 7 9 7)
1790.
By half the hide and tallow, SOO^lb.; the whole being
6011b 2 10 1
£69 4 10
1790. —
Dr. Jenny, Carding and Spinning Frame, completed at the joint and
equal expense of Lewis Peck and Andrew Dexter.
To Lewis Peck's bill, 61 11 5
To Andrew Dexter, do. 78 3 7
£139 15
f
EARLY STATE OF MANUFACTURES. 67
Extract ofAlmy ^ Brown^s account in Andrew Dexter' s Leger.
1791. April 16, 1 piece of Jean 20i yards
4 do. do. lOOi do.
1 do. do. 26^ do.
1792. July 12, 114} cotton, at 2s. 71d. £15 2s.
The above is a true copy from the late Andrew Dexter Esqr's. Leger.
Providence, Nov. 24th, 1835.
George H. Peck.
From the above documents, there is undeniable proof that
Har^eaves' jennies were in use, in various places in the United
States, previous to 1790, and that mixed goods of linen and
cotton were wove principally by Scotish and Irish weavers. But
I have not been able to ascertain, beyond a doubt, who first intro-
duced the jenny, or by whom they were first used for spinning in
America.
Moses Brown says — " We had, in 1789, got several jennies and
some weavers at work on linen warps, and found the imdertaking
much more arduous than I expected, both as to the attention
necessary and the expense, being necessitated to employ workmen
of the most transient kind, and on whom little dependence could
be placed."*
" During this time, 1790, linen warps were wove, and the jenny
spinning was performed in different cellars of dwelling houses."
There have been made by Almy <fc Brown, (Moses Brown found
money, they being poor) since the 1st of January, 1790, to No-
vember following, velverets, velverteens, corduroys, thicksets, a
variety of fancy cut goods, jeans, denims, velures, stockinets,
pillows of fustian, ifcc, 326 pieces, containing 7823 yards, there
* The difficulties under which these incipient measures towards the esta-
blishment of the business were pursued, can hardly be conceived at the
present day, even by a practical and experienced machinist or manufacturer.
The basin of the Narragansett Bay, and the small but invaluable streams
that fall into it on every side, did not form then, as they now form, a con-
tinuous hive of mechanical industry, enterprise, and skill, where every sort
of material, and every, even the most minute, subdivision of handicraft
ingenuity, could be procured at will, ^ere were no magazines or work-
men. With the exception of scythes, anchors, horse shoes, ploughs, nails,
cannon shot, and a few other articles of iron, there was no staple manufac-
ture for .exportation from Rhode Island. The mechanism then applied in
these manufactures was almost as simple as the first impulse of water or
steam. The compounds of gyration now obtained, in almost endless
variety, by the application of the ellipsis, was then almost or wholly
unknown in this country. No sheetings, shirtings, checks, or ginghams,
were made previous Ur 1790.
68 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
are also several other persons who manufactured cotton and linen
by the carding machines and jennies." We hear nothing of the
use of jennies after this period, and they produced but little advan-
tage to the community ; as Moses Brown observes : — " Our com-
mencing the business at a period, when from the great extent of
it in England and Ireland, and other causes, many became bank-
rupts, their goods were sold at auction, and shipped to America
in large quantities, the two or three last years, lower than ever
before. Add to this, which is much the greatest difficulty, British
agents have been out in Providence, and, I presume, some other
manufacturing towns, with large quantities of cotton goods for sale,
and strongly soliciting correspondence of people in the mercantile
line to receive their goods at a very long credit, say eighteen
months, which is six or nine more than has been usual heretofore ;
for the discouragement of their manufactory here. This bait has
been too eagerly taken by our merchants, who, from their activity
in business, mostly trade equal to or beyond their capital, and
so are induced by the long credit to receive the goods, in expec-
tation of turning them to advantage before the time of payment.
But the great quantities some have on hand, we have reason to
expect, will disappoint them ; but others, being induced by the
same motive, are supplied, and thus the quantities of British goods
of these kinds on hand, exceeding the market, obstruct the sale of
our own manufactures, without the merchant trading in them
getting his usual profits by them. This English trade, therefore,
in time, would be reduced for want of profits ; but when the actual
sales of British goods fail, of the cotton manufacture, they are sent
and left here on commission. This, I am informed, by good
authority, was the policy of the English manufacturers, formed
into societies for that purpose."
"^ The abilities of the manufacturing interest of Great Britain to
intercept the sale of our own goods, at a price as low as theirs
has been heretofore sold by our importing merchants, the actual
combination of them to discourage other countries, forms a very
great discouragement to men of abilities to lay out their property
in extending manufactories ; the preparation for which, even before
they can be perfected, must be left, if they cannot be continued.''
Such was the incipient state of the attempt at jenny spinning, in
1790 ; and nothing but the introduction of the " water-frame
spinning," which had superseded the jennies in England, could
have laid a foundation for the cotton manufacture in the United
States. But that had happily commenced, by an individual who
was personally and practically acquainted with all its branches,
EARLY STATE OF MANUFACTURES. 69
and who bad uncommon determination and perseverance to
accomplish his purpose. The following description of jenny
spinnings is from the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, under the article
"Cotton Spinning."
" The jenny, in its manner of action, resembles the ancient
spinning with the distaff and spindle, but is so contrived, that one
person works a number of spindles at once. It was the earliest
improvement on spinning, after the one -thread wheel , and was the
invention of Richard Hargreaves, weaver in Lancashire, in the
year 1767. The jenny is now entirely superseded by the mule.
For jenny spinning, the elementary process was called batting ; it
was next soaped, in order to make it more easily stretched in the
roving and spinning ; the soaping was performed by immersing
the cotton in a solution of soap in water ; it was next put into a
screw press, and afterwards dried in a stove.
"Hand cards first, and stock cards afterwards, were employed
before the invention of the cylinder cards.
" The roving was performed, on similar principles to the spin-
ning jenny, on a machine called a 6t%, which was driven by
means of bands from a cylinder, which receives its motion firom a
vertical fly-wheel, driven by hand at one end of the machine.
" The jenny is a machine, similar in its operation to the roving
&i%, but. differs from it in constniction in this respect, that the
clasp is attached to the carriage, while the spindles are disposed
in the rails of the franco which remain at rest. The drawing out
of the clasp stretches the roves so as to reduce them into the size
proper for the yarn, at the same time the spindles twine it. Dur-
ing the return of the carriage, the yam is built on the spindles by
levers and wires, and formed like the rovings into cops. It is
wrought with the hand by one grown-up person, assisted by a
boy or girl, called a pUcer^ in order to mend such threads as break.
The yam, when taken off the spindles, is sometimes reeled, but
more frequently given to the weaver in cops, who has it wound
on the bobbins preparatory to being placed in the shuttle."
James Hargreaves, a weaver of Stand Hill, near Blackburn,
was the inventor of the jenny. Such a machine, it is pro-
ble, would not be at once perfected; its construction would
probably occupy the author, who was a poor man, and had to
work for his daily bread, some years ; and as Hargreaves went to
Nottingham in 1790, before which time his machine had not only
been perfected, but its extraordinary powers so clearly proved,
notwithstanding his efforts to keep it secret, as to expose him to
persecution and the attacks of a mob, it is reasonable to think
70 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
that the invention was conceived, and that the author began to
embody it, as early as 1764. Hargreaves, though illiterate and
humble, must be regarded as one of the greatest inventors and
improvers in the cotton manufacture. His principal invention,
and one which showed high mechanical genius, was the jenny.
Hargreaves is said to have received the original idea of this
machine, from seeing a one-thread wheel overturned upon the
floor, when both the wheel and the spindle continued to revolve.
The spindle was thus thrown from a horizontal into an upright
position ; and the thought seems to have struck him, that if a
number of spindles were placed upright, and side by side, several
threads might be spun at once.
He contrived a frame, in one part of which he placed eight
rovings in a row, and in another part a row of eight spindles.
With this admirable machine, though at first rudely constructed,
Hargreaves and his family spun weft for his own weaving. Aware
of the value of the invention, but not extending his ambition to a
patent, he kept it as secret as possible for a time, and used it
merely in his own business. A machine of such powers could not
however, be long concealed ; but when it became the subject of
rumour, instead of gaining for its author admiration and gratitude,
the spinners raised an outcry that it would throw multitudes out
of employment, and a mob broke into Hargreaves' house, and
destroyed his jenny. So great was the persecution he suffered,
and the danger in which he was placed, that this victim of popu-
lar ignorance was compelled to flee his native county, as the
inventor of the fly-shuttle had been before him. Thus, the neigh-
bourhood where the machine was invented, lost the benefit of it ;
yet without preventing its general adoption — the conunon and
appropriate punishment of the ignorance and selfishness which
oppose mechanical improvements. The number of spindles in
the jenny was at first eight, when the patent was obtained it was
sixteen ; it soon came to be twenty or thirty, and no less than one
hundred and twenty have since been used. Before quitting Lan-
cashire for Nottingham, Hargreaves had made a few jennies for
sale, and the importance of the invention being universally appre-
ciated, the interests of the manufacturers and weavers brought it
into general use, in spite of all opposition.
It is mentioned, that Crompton, the inventor of the mule, learned
to spin upon a jenny of Hargreaves' make, in 1769.
Notwithstanding the outrage and violence against him, Har-
greaves was enabled to live in comfort though not in affluence, on
the fruits of his invention.
ARRIVAL IN AMERICA. 71
CHAPTER in.
FROM SAMUEL SLATER's LEAVING ENGLAND TO HIS MARRIAGG
WITH HANNAH WILKINSON, OF NORTH PROVIDENCE, R. I.
** He that wishes to be counted among the benefaciton of posteritj, mast add, by his
own toil, to the acquisition of his ancestors.**
The preceding chapter is designed to show, that every attempt
to spin cotton warp or twist, or any other yarn, by water power,
till 1790, had totally fiuled, and every effort to import the patent
machinery of England had proved abortive.* Much interest had
been excited in Philadelphia, New York, Beverly, Massachusetts,
and in Providence, Rhode Island ; but they found it impossible to
compete with the superior machinery of Derbyshire. Distrust
and despondency had affected the strongest minds ; disappoint-
ment and repeated losses of property, had entirely disheartened
those brave pioneers in the production of homespun cloth. At
this moment, Mr. Slater had left Belper, and was on his passage
to America, with a full and decided plan to construct and erect
the Arkwright machinery in the United States. The evidence
adduced in this chapter, is designed to show, that previous to 1790,
no such machinery existed in this country; and that Samuel
Slater, without the aid of any one who had ever seen such
machinery, did actually, from his personal knowledge and skill,
put in motion the whole series of Arkwright's patents ; and that
he put them in such perfect operation, as to produce as good yam,
and cotton cloth of various descriptions, equal to any article of the
kind produced in England at that time. This is the claim that
we make for the subject of this memoir, and if we are successful
in proving this point, we lay a foundation for sufficient praise for
any one individual.
Mr. Slater's passage from London to New York extended to
sixty-six da3rs. This was a considerable imprisonment to a lands-
man who had never seen a ship before.
* Tench Coxe entered into a bond with a person who engaged to send him,
from London, complete brass models of Arkwrighl's patents ; the machinery
was completed and packed, bat was detected by the examining officer, and
forfeited, accoiding to the existing laws of Great Britain, to preyent the
exportation of machinery.
72 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
Immediately on his arrival, he was introduced to the New
York Manufacturing Company, and engaged in their employment.
But the state of their business was low and inferior, compart with
what he had been accustomed to in his own country ; so that he
was dissatisfied with his prospects, and he did not like the water
privileges which were shown him in this section of the country,
to commence any new works.
A captain of one of the Providence packets informed him of
Moses Brown, who was endeavouring to do something in the
cotton business, and advised Mr. Slater to write by him and offer
his services ; which advice he followed, and turned his attention
from Philadelphia, to which he had been first directed, as appears
by the following letter, dated —
New York, December 2d, 1789.
Sir, — A few days ago I was informed that you wanted a manager of eof-
ton spinningy 4bc. in which business I flatter myself that I can give the
greatest satisfaction, in making mi^chinery, making good yam, either for
stockings or twist, as any that is made in England ; as I have had opportu-
nity, and an oversight, of Sir Richard Arkwright's works, and in Mr. Strutt's
mill upwards of eight years. If you are not provided for, should be glad to
serve you; though I am in the New York manufactory, and have been for
three weeks since I arrived from England. But we have but one card^ two
machines, two spinning jennies, which I think are not worth using. My
encouragement is pretty good, but should much rather have the care of the
perpetual carding and spinning. My intention is to erect a perpetual card
and spinning. (Meaning the Arkwright patents.) If you please to drop a
line respecting the amount of encouragement you wish to give, by favour
of Captain Brown, you will much oblige, sir, your most obedient humble
servant, Samuel Slater.
N. B.— Please to direct to me at No. 37, Golden Hill, New York.
hfr. Brown, Providence.
It appears from the above letter, that Mr. Slater claimed to have
a fiill knowledge of the business of Messrs. Arkwright and Strutt;
that he could make the machinery, and superintend the works
when erected ; and that such were the works he wished to be
engaged in ; that he could make as good yarn either for stock-
ing or twistj as any that was made in England at that time.
The machinery in New York was very inferior, jennies on the
Hargreave's plan ; but the Arkwright patent was not in existence,
and every attempt to establish it had been unsuccessful, as appears
by the following letter : —
Providence, 10th 12th month, 1789.
Friend, — I received thine of 2d inst. and observe its contents. I, or
rather Almy &, Brown, who has the business in the cotton line, which I
began, one being my son-in-law, and the other a kinsman, want the assist^
OFFER OP MOSES BROWN. 73
tnce of a person skilled in the frame or water spinning. An experiment
has been made, which has failed, no person being acquainted with the busi-
ness, and the frames imperfect.
We are destitute of a person acquainted with water-frame spinning ; thy
being already engaged in a factory with many able proprietors, we can
hardly suppose we can give the encouragement adequate to leaving thy
present employ. As the frame we have is the first attempt of the kind that
has been made in America, it is too imperfect to afford much encouragement ;
we hardly know what to say to thee, but if thou thought thou couldst perfect
and conduct them to profit, if thou wilt come and do it, thou shalt have
all the profits made of them over and above the interest of the money they
cost, and the wear and tear of them. We will find stock and be repaid in
yam as we may agree, for six months. And this we do for the information
thou can give, if fully acquainted with the business. After this, if we find
the business profitable, we can enlarge it, or before, if sufficient proof of it
be had on trial, and can make any further agreement that may appear best
or agreeable on all sides. We have secured only a temporary water conve-
nience, but if we find the business profitable, can perpetuate one that is con-
venient. If thy prospects should be better, and thou should know of any
other person unengaged, should be obliged to thee to mention us to him. In
the mean time, shall be glad to be informed whether thou come or not. If
thy present situation does not come up to what thou wishest, and, from thy
knowledge of the business, can be ascertained of the advantages of the mills,
so as to induce thee to come and work ours, and have the credit as well as
advantage of perfecting the first water-mill in America, we should be
glad to engage thy care so long as they can be made profitable to both, and
we can agree. I am, for myself and Almy &, Brown, thy friend,
Moses Brown.
Samuel Slater, at 37, Golden Hill, New York,
In the above letter, Moses Brown offers Samuel Slater, if he
could work the machinery they had on hand, all the profits of the
business. On the proviso, that he was what he professed, and
would erect machinery such as he described, he should beeome
concerned with him as they might agree.
He holds out to him the promise of the credit, as well as the
advantages of perfecting the first water-mill in America. Under
these inducements and assurances, Mr. Slater left New York,
expecting to find the, water-frame ready for operation. When
he came to Providence, he assured Mr. Brown that he could do
all that he had promised in his letter; for proof of which he
showed him "his indenture" with Mr. Strutt, who had been a
partner with Arkwright, and who spun the best yarn, both for
stockings and twist, that was at that time spun in England.
Moses Brown took Mr. Slater to Pawtucket, and showed him the
machinery that he had described in his letter, which they had
fiiiled to operate, not finding any person who had wrought on
10
74 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
the Arkwright patent, or had seen any one that had wrought
on it.
Moses Brown told me, that, ^^ when Samuel saw the old
machines, he felt down-hearted, with disappointment — and shook
his head, and said ^ these will not do ; they are good for nothing
in their present condition, nor can they be made to answer.' It
appears that Mr. Anthony had tried them, and was unsuccessful ;
and different persons, who had seen these works, have informed
me that ihey were worth nothing more, than so much old iron ;"
these were the words of Wm. Almy, when speaking to me on the
subject. Such particulars may to some appear frivolous; but
such transactions as tend to illustrate the progress of the wealth
or manners of our country, merit the utmost attention. Even
minute events are objects of consequence when they tend t6
establish important points in national history, and national
aggrandisement. After various disapointments, it was proposed
that Mr. Slater should erect the series of machines, called the
Arkwright patents, which he would not listen to, till he was pro-
mised a man to work on wood, who should be put under bonds not
to steal the patterns, or disclose the nature of the works. ^' Under
my proposals," says he, ^^ if I do not make as good yam, as they
do in England, I will have nothing for my services, but will throw
the whole of what I have attempted over the bridge."
The following document will show what was finally determined
on between the parties: —
" The following agreement, made between William Almy and Smith
Brown of the one part, and Samuel Slater of the other part, — Witnesseth
that the said parties have mutually agreed to be concerned t(^ther in, and
carry on, the spinning of cotton by watei, (of which the said Samuel pio*
fesses himself a workman, well skilled in all its branches ;) upon th« follow-
ing terms, viz : — that the said Almy and Brown, on their part, are to tarn in
the machinery, which they have already purchased, at the price they GOft
them, and to furnish materials for the building of two carding machineSi
viz : — a breaker and a finisher ; a drawing and roving frame ; and to extend
the spinning mills, or frames, lo one hundred spindles. And the said
Samuel, on his part, covenants and engages, to devote his whole time and
service, and to exert his skill according to the best of his abilities, and have
the same effected in a workmanlike manner, similar to those used in Englandy
for the like purposes. And it is mutually agreed between the said paitieSi
that the said Samuel shall be considered an owner and proprietor in mie
half of the machinery' aforesaid, and accountable for one half of the expense
that hath arisen, or shall arise, from the building, purchasing, or repairing,
of the same, but nut to sell, or in any manner dispose of any part, or parcel
thereof, to any other person or persons, excepting the said Almy and Browa;
AGREEMENT WITH ALMT AND BROWN. 75
neither shall any others be entitled to hold any right, interest, or claim, in
any part of the said machinery, by virtue of any right which the said Slater
shall or may derive from these presents, unless by an agreement, expressed
in writing from the said Almy and Brown, first had and obtained — unless
the said Slater has punctually paid one half of the cost of the said machinery
with interest thereon ; nor then, until he has offered the same to the said
Almy and Brown in writing upon the lowest terms; that he will sell or dis-
pose of nis part of the said machinery to any other person, and instructed
the said Almy and Brown, or some others by them appointed, in the full and
perfect knowledge of the use of the machinery, and the art of water spin-
ning. And it is further agreed, that the said Samuel, as a full and adequate
compensation for his whole time and services, both whilst in constructing
and making the machinery, and in conducting and executing the spinning,
and preparing to spin upon the same, after every expense arising from the
business is defrayed, including the usual commissions of two and a half per
cent, for purchasing of the stock, and four percent, for disposing of the yarn,
shall receive one half of the profits, which shall be ascertained by settle-
ment from time to time, as occasion may require ; and the said Almy and
firown the other half— the said Almy and Brown to be employed in the pur-
chasing of stock, and disposing of the yarn. And it is further covenanted,
that this indenture shall make void and supersede the former articles of
agreement, made between the said Almy and Brown and the said Slater,
and that it shall be considered to commence, and the conditions mentioned
in it be binding upon the parties, from the beginning of the business ; the
said Samuel to be at the 'expense of his own time and board from thence-
forward. And it is also agreed that if the said Almy and Brown choose to
pat in apprentices to the business, that they have liberty so to do. The ex-
pense arising from the maintenance of whom, and the advantages derived
from their services during the time the said Almy and Brown may think
proper to continue them in the business, shall be equally borne and received
aa is above provided for in the expenses and profits of the business. It is
abo to be understood, that, whatever is advanced by the said Almy and
Brown, either for the said Slater, or to carry on his part of the business, is
to be repaid them with interest thereon, for which purpose they are to receive
all the yarn that may be made, the one half of which on their own account,
and the other half they are to receive and dispose of, on account of the said
Slater, the net proceeds of which they are to credit him, towards their
advance, and stocking his part of the works, so that the business may go for-
ward.
'' In witness whereof the parties to these presents have interchange-
ably set their hands, this fifth day of the fourth month, seventeen hundred
and ninety.
Wm. Almy.
Smith Brown.
Samuel Slater
WUneBsea —
Oziel Wilkinson, Abraham Wilkinson."
In accordance with this agreement of copartnership, I find a
bill of account, settled Dec. 3d, 1792, sign^ Almy & Brown,
76 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
^n account with Samuel Slater ; which contains the following
item of credit to Samuel Slater :— " Nov. 25th, 1792. By the one
half of the proceeds from the sales of yam spun at the mills, and
of credit taken to our account, and accounted for by us as sold —
£882 4s. Hid. Providence Dec. 3d, 1792. Almy <fc Brown.''
I find also these charges on the same settlement : —
1792, Feb. 17.
To the one half of our account against spinning mills
for machinery, ifcc. up to Feb. 11th, 1792, £252 1 6
To one half of do. for stock up to same date, 210 19 If
The above documents show what was finally determined on
between the parties in the business.
The following letter from Mr. Smith Wilkinson, written at BXf
request, corroborates the above : —
PoBfFRET, May 30th, 183&
Mr. Samuel Slater came to Pawtucket early in January 1790, in comptBy
with Moses Brown, Wm. Almy, Obadiah Brown, and Smith Brown, wlio
did a small business in Providence, at manufacturing on billies and jennies,
driven by men, as also were the carding machines. They wove and finiabed
jeans, fustians, thicksetts, velverets, &c. ; the work being mostly perfomH
ed by Irish emigrants. There was a spinning frame in the building, wUek
used to stand on the south-west abutment of Pawtucket bridge, owned by
Ezekiel Carpenter, which was started for trial (after it was built for Andrew
Dexter and Lewis Peck) by Joseph and Richard Anthony, who are now
living at or near Providence. But the machine was very imperfect, and
made very uneven yarn. The cotton for this experiment was carded by
band, and roped on a woollen wheel, by a female.
Mr. Slater entered into contract with Wm. Almy and Smith Brown, and
commenced building a water frame of 24 spindles, two carding machines,
and the drawing and roping frames necessary to prepare for the spinning,
and soon after added a frame of 48 spindles. He commenced some time in
the fall of 1790, or in the winter of 1791. I was then in my tenth year, and
went to work for him, and began at tending the breaker. The mode of lay-
ing the cotton was by hand, taking up a handful, and pulling it apart with
both hands, and shifting it all into the right hand, to get the staple of the
cotton straight, and fix the handful, so as to hold it firm, and then applying
it to the surface of the breaker, moving the hand horizontally across the card
Co and fro, until the cotton was fully prepared.
The first frame of 24 spindles, was much longer erecting than
anticipated, because cards and other things, even tools to work
with, could not be obtained; all these were made by Mr. Slater's own
hands, or by his directions. He laboured night and day under
INTRODUCES ARK WRIGHT MACHINERY. 77
every disadvantage, to accomplish his purpose, but the hope of
future reward sweetened his labour.*
Mr. Slater once said to me, when speaking of labour, that he
had laboured sixteen hours a day, for twenty years successively,
and he might have added, in the most laborious occupations.
The assertions which have been made in public, representing that
Mr. Slater brought with him from England, models and patterns,
drawings of machinery, <fcc., we know, from the best possible
* In the fourth of July oration of Edward ETerett, is the following Talu-
able leuer, and its accompanying remarks: — "I quote a sentence from it, in
spile of the homeliness of the details, for which I like it the better, and be-
cause I wish to set before you, not an ideal hero wrapped in cloudy generali-
ties, and a mist of vague panegyric, but the real, identical man, with all the
peculiarities of his life and occupation. ' Your letter,' says he, ' gave me
the more pleasure, as I received it among barbarians and an uncouth set of
people. Since you received my letter of October last, I have not slept above
three or four nights in a bed ; but after walking a good deal all day, I have
lain down before the fire, upon.a little hay, straw, fodder, or a bearskin,
whichever was to be had — with man, wife, and children, like dogs and cats ;
and happy is he who gets the berth nearest the fire. Nothing would make
it pass off tolerably, but a good reward. A doubloon is my constant gain
every day, that the weather will permit my going out, and sometimes six
pistoles. The coldness of the weather will not allow of my making a long
stay, as the lodging is rather too cold for the time of year. I have never had
my clothes off, but have lain and slept in them, except the few nights I have
been in Fredericksburg.' If there is an individual, in the morning of life, in
this assembly who has not yet made his choice, between the flowery path of
indulgence, and the rough ascent of honest industry — if there is one who is
ashamed to get his living by any branch of honest labour, let him reflect,
that the youth who was carrying the theodolite and surveyor's chain, through
the mountain passes of the Alleganies, in the month of March — sleeping on
a bundle of hay before the fire, in a settler's log cabin, and not ashamed to
boast that he did it for his doubloon a day, is George Washington ; that the
life he led trained him up to command the armies of United America ; that
the money he earned was the basis of that fortune which enabled him after-
wards to bestow his services, without reward, on a bleeding and impoverish-
ed country. For three years, was the young Washington employed, the
greater part of the time, and whenever the season would permit, in this
laborious and healtliful occupation ; and I know not if it would be deemed
unbecoming, were a thoughtful student of our history to say, that he could
almost hear the voice of Providence, in the language of Milton, announce
its high purpose —
' To exercise him in the wilderness : —
There he shall first lay down the rudiments
Qf his great warfare, ere I send him forth
To conquer.'
> >»
78 HEHOIR OP SAMUEL SLATER.
authority, to be iacorrect ; he told mc that he had not a single pe
tern or memorandum to assist him in his calculations in conslrut
ing his first machinery ; but he was favoured with an excellei
memory, which never failed him in a single particular, until I
accomplished his purpose. This was corroborated by the tesi
mony of Moses Brown and WiUiani Almy.
It was then that his mathematical talents were put to the tei
Whoever is acquainted with " The Carding or Spinning Mastei
Assistant, or the theory and practice of cotton spinning, showii
die use of each machine employed in the whole process, — how
adjust and adapt them to suit the various kinds of cotton, and tl
difierent qualities of yarn ; and how to perform the various calci
latioQS connected with the different departments of cotton spi:
ning," will be satisfied that Mr. Slater's first work, in Pawtuck<
was a proof of his knowledge and experience, as well as of 1j
mathematical and mechanical genius. At the same time, it w
be evident how much assistance he might hare derived from sq<
a publication ; but nothing of the kind was then in existence,
is only within a few years that such helps have been prepare
Mr. Slater had seen the spinning frames that were constnicti
under the auspices of Arkwright himself, and had been brought
a very high state of improvement. The machines which have bei
generally used, since his time, are constructed upon the vtiy tat
principle f any alterations that have been made, are chiefly upc
the form or framing of the machine : as that which was former
made of wood, is now made of cast iron, which gives it a mo
neat and handsome appearance, and also renders it more durabi
In reference to the introduction of this machinery, Mr. Burge
observed, in a speech in congress, in 1825, and also at a publ
dinner in Pawtucket, R. I., June 16, 1828 — "At the commene
ment of our present national government, a man arrived in th
very place (I do not call his name, because it belongs to histor
and must be known to all) ; and he brought with him that art, i
those manufactures, which enables England, in the progress of i
improvements, so to multiply labour, and accumulate wealth, th
she did, by the aid of her machinery, in the close of the last, an
the b^inning of the present century, stand between the militai
■despotism of one part of Europe, and the entire liberties of tl
world."
The annexed plate represents the machinery which Mr. Slab
-erected, and operated in the old fulling mill at Pawtucket. Tl
clothier's shop alluded (o by Mr. Wilkinson, was washed away Fe
i5, 1807; but the two frames which Mr. Slater first made ar
DBVOtflFTfOM Oft M4i;il|WK«V.
lly ■
DESCRIPTION OF MACHIMEBY. 79
operated, are now in the old mill in Pawtucket, and are frequently
shown to visiters as choice curiosities. I conversed with the son
of E. Carpenter, in whose shop S. Slater built his machinery,
who was the clothier, and then a boy ; he was permitted to see the
first yarn spun, about which he told me, and observed that listing
was used for belts. The following description will aid in under-
standing the engraving.
Water-spinning. It received this name, from being the first done
by a water-wheel, and was patented by R. Arkwright.
Carding. After the cotton is picked, the usual process is to
card it ; first, by a carding machine, called a breaker ; and a second
time on another, called 9^ finisher. The breaker consists of a larger
and smaller cylinder. The larger, or main cylinder^ is covered
with sheet cards, and moves at a considerable velocity ; the lesser,
or doffing cylinder, is covered with a spiral fillet of card, wound
round it, and moves slowly. These cylinders revolve in opposite
directions, and nearly in contact with each other. Over the main
cylinder, is a kind of arch, covered with cards, at rest, called the
top-cards. The cotton is fed by means of rollers into the main
cylinder. The main cylinder lays it on the doffing cylinder, from
which it is combed, and in an uniform fleece is wound round a
cylinder, or sometimes, instead of it, on a perpetual cloth. After
this cylinder or cloth has made a certain number of revolutions,
and thereby plying or doubling, (the fourth elementary process,)
the cotton is broken off, and is in that state, called a lap, ready to
be carried to the finisher. The finisher is similar to the breaker,
only that the fleece, instead of forming a lap, is gradually brought
into a narrow band or sUver, and is compressed by a pair of rollers,
which deliver it into a tin can, which is afterwards removed to
the drawing frame.
The drawing frame. In this machine, drawing first occurs.
Drawing is a curious contrivance, and is the ground-work or prin-
ciple of Arkwright's patent, for it is used in the roving and spin-
ning, as well as in the drawing fi*ame. It is an imitation of what
IB done by the finger and thumb, in spinning by hand, and is per-
formed by means of two pair of rollers. The upper roller of the
first psdr is covered by leather, which being an elastic substance,
is pressed, by means of a spring or weight. The lower roller,
made of metal, is fluted, in order to keep a firm hold of the fibres
of the cotton. Another similar pair of rollers are placed near to
those we have been describing. The second pair moving at a
greater velocity, pull the fibres of the cotton from the first pair of
rollers. If the surface of the last pair move at twice or thrice the
80 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
velocity of the first pair, the cotton will be drawn twice or thrice
finer than it was. This relative velocity is called the draught of
the machine. This mechanism being understood, it will be easy
to conceive the nature of the operation of the drawing-frame.
Several of the narrow ribands or slivers from the cards, (or as
they are sometimes termed, card ends,) by being passed through
a system of rollers, are thereby reduced in size. By means of a
detached single pair of rollers, the reduced ribands are united into
one sliver. These operations of drawing and plying serve to
equalise the body of cotton, and to bring its fibres more on end,
which, in the card ends, were crossed in all directions. These
slivers are again combined and drawn out, so that one sliver of
the finisher's drawing contains many plies of card-ends. Hitherto
the cotton has got no twist, but is received into moveable tin cans
or canisters, similar to those used for receiving the cotton from the
cards ; sometimes, however, it does receive a small degree of twist
in the finishing drawing.
Roving. The roving is a process similar to the drawing, only
that it always communicates a degree of twist to the cotton. The
roves are wound up on bobbins, and are then ready to be spun.
The operation of winding is in some cases performed by hand, and
in others by power. The bobbins containing the rove are placed on
the back part of the spinning frame. The spinning is little more
than a repetition of the process gone through in making the rov-
ings. The spinning frame contains rollers similar to those of the
drawing and roving frames, which serve to extend the rove, and
reduce it to the required fineness ; at the same time it is twisted by
means of a spindle, but of a difierent kind from that of the common
jenny.
Previously to the year 1767, spinning was performed on the
domestic one-thread wheel, of which there were two kinds. The
first, which had a simple spindle, required the material to be pre-
viously carded : and. as we have seen, the common jenny was
founded upon this simple machine. The second, was the flax-
wheel, which was used for other substances that, from their
nature, but more particularly for the length of staple, did not
admit of carding, but were prepared by an operation resembling
combinar.
The spindle of this machine had a bobbin and fly, which served
to wind up the yam as fast as it was spun. This last kind of
spindle is that which was adopted by Arkwright in his mode of
spinning. >Vhen the bobbins are fiiU, they are taken ofi* the
spindks in order to be reeled.
82 MSMOIB OF SAMUEL BLATBR.
one of the nx>st important machines employed in the process.
Carding engines have sometimes been made to consist of one large
cylinder, and a number of smaller ones, called urchins, disposed
of at proper distances over above the main cylinder, and revolv-
ing in opposite directions to it, but nearly in contact ; by which
means the cotton was delivered from cylinder to cylinder, until it
came to the finishing cylinder, called the doffer — from which it
was taken off by the comb.
At present, carding engines are generally made to consist of only
two cylinders; sometimes three — one at the feeding rollers. But
the main cylinder is covered with a kind of arch, composed of
several pieces of wood called tops, which have no motion, having
sheet cards fixed on them, and nearly in contact with the main
cylinder. If any machine in the whole process of cotton spinning
be of more use and importance than another, it is the carding
engine, nor do I see how its use can at all be dispensed with ;
and in &ct it may be said, that the pfocess of cotton spinning,
(properly speaking) begins only at the carding ; for all the previous
departments of the process are merely preparatory to this, and
consist, chiefly, in mixing, deeming and opening the cotton, so as
that the cards may take the best eflfect upon it ; and therefore are
called the preparation. Previous to the cotton being put through
the cards, the fibres may be lying in every direction into which
they may accidentally be thrown; but the use of the carding
engine is to draw out -the fibres of the cotton, to straighten and
lay them side by side, and form them into a thread commonly
called an end; and this is the first formation of the thread of ]ram.
It is first begun in the cards, and advanced onward, step by step,
through each successive machine in its order, until it is completed.
When the fibres are properly straightened, and the end equally
formed at the cards, there is good reason to expect a superior
quality of yam, but failing this, an inferior quality is unavoidable ;
for no skill or attention applied to any subsequent department of
the process, can altogether remedy the injuries the cotton may
have sustained in this: hence it is an object of the highest import-
ance in cotton spinning, to have the cards always properly set, and
adjusted to suit the particular kind of cotton used, and the quality
of the yarn required.
In the adjusting and fitting up of cards, great care should be.
taken to have all their parts properly leveled ; the bite of the feed-
ing rollers should especially be on a perfect level with the centre
of the main cylinder, and both cylinders should be turned to the
perfect troth, and always kept so if possible; but, through the
DESCRIPTION OP YARN. 83
influeiice of the variations of the temperature, &c., the cylinders
are frequently found to go off the truth, notwithstanding all the
care that may be taken to prevent it ; when this takes place, the
only remedy is to strip them of their sheets, and turn them anew,
until they are perfectly just ; for to work with card cylinders off
the truth is attended with the most injurious effects upon the
cotton. Seeing it is an object of some importance to keep card
cylinders from going off the truth, to which they have a great
tendency, particular care should be taken to have the wood well
seasoned before it is made into cylinders. New carding engines
should also be allowed to stand at least two months in their place,
exposed to the heat of the mill, before they commence operations,
during which they should be turned and adjusted several times.
The following letter refers to the first yam that Mr. Slater made
on his machinery : it is rather singular that Moses Brown should
not name him, but speak of him '' as an English workman from
Arkwright's works," when at the time he was proprietor of one
half of the machinery, while Almy and Brown had only a quarter
each: —
Providence, lOth of 4th mo. 1791.
Esteemed Friend, — I have for some time thought of addressing the Be-
verly manufacturers on the subject of an application to Congress for some
encouragement to the cotton manufactory, by an additional duty on the cot-
ton goods imported, and the applying such duty as a bounty, partly for raising
and saving of cotton in the southern states, of a quality and cleanness
suitable to be wrought with machines, and partly as a bounty on cotton
goods of the same kind manufactured in the United States, or in some other
manner, as may be thought advisable. It is thought that the interest of all
the cotton manufacturers who work with carding and other machines, united,
would effect such encouragement as would effectually prevent the English
manufacturers from sending in such increased or large quantities as has
been of late, and establish the business advantageously to this country. Thy
sentiments, with those of the concerned, would be acceptable, and it is the
desire of those concerned, this way, that you, being the first and largest,
would take the lead, and devise such plan as may be most eligible to effect
the purpose. ^
My son-in-law, William Almy, has handed me three sizes of cotton
yam : a lay of each I enclose for your inspecton. Almy and Brown, who
conduct the business of the cotton manufactory, with an English work-
man from Arkwright's works, have often fourteen labourers of the various
mechanics necessaiy, completed the water spinning machines to the perfec-
tion as to make the inclosed yam, — the former mills which I had purchased,
made from the state's model at Bridgewater, proving not to answer. JThe
weavers inform me the yarn works better than any linen they have had, and
takes less trouble to warp and weave it. As the doubling and twisting mill,
by water, is not yet ready, Almy iL Brown have had a number of pieces
V >
84 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
of thicksets and fancy goods, made of single warps, which appear moeh
superior to any linen warp. The two coarsest enclosed answer this pur-
pose, — the finest would answer for cords, veWets, &c., when doubled and
twisted. If you should incline to try some warps, they can supply you with
almost any size, weekly, monthly, or quarterly ; that of abont 12 skeins to
the pound at 6d per skein, of 1200 yards. Coarser or finer, will vary some.
As we find that warps cannot be made equally as good on jennies, and ap-
prehending that you wish to perfect the cotton manufactures, so as to
preclude foreign importation, induces us to make the offer of supplying yoa
in preference to any other works. Thy or the company's answer will be
attended to by Almy d^ Brown, and by thy friend,
Moses Brown.
P. S. I have heard that I was censured by some of the concerned, as
being suspected of having enticed away your workmen, but as I knew my-
self clear, I did not write you. But if any thing of that kind remains, and
I could know what it is, I doubt not I can remove every suspicion to your
satisfaction, and will endeavour to do it on notice ; as I went to Beverly
disapproving such conduct, I acted on the same principles, and now disavow
any such conduct. I mention this, as I wish to live in harmony with all
men, and especially with those in the same line of business.
Moset Brown,
To be communicated to the proprietor$ of the Beverly Factory,
In a letter to John Dexter, Moses Brown gives the following
account, October 15, 1791 : —
^' In the spring of the year 1789, some persons in Providence had pror
cured to be made a carding machine, a jenny and a spinning frame, to work
by hand after the manner of Arkwright's invention, taken principally from
models belonging to the state of Massachusetts, which were made at their
expense, by two persons from Scotland, who took their ideas from observa-
tion, and not from experience in the business. These machines made here
not answering the purpose and expectation of the proprietors, and I being
desirous of perfecting them, if possible, and the business of the cotton manu-
factures, so as to be useful to the country, I purchased them ; and, by great
alterations, the carding machine and jenny were made to answer. The
frame, with one other on nearly the same construction, made from the same
model, and tried without success at East Greenwich, which I also purchased,
I attempted to set to work by water, and made a little yarn, so as to answer
for warps ; but being so imperfect, both as to the quality and quantity of the
yam, that their progress was suspended till I could procure a person who
had wrought or seen them wrought in Europe, for as yet we had not. Late
in the fall I received a letter from a young man, then lately arrived at New
York, from Arkwright's works in England, informing me, his situation, that
he could hear of no perpetual spinning mills on the continent but mine, and
proposed to come and work them. I wrote him and he came accordingly ;
hut on ffiewinff the mills he declined doing any thing with them^ and pro-
posed making a new one, using such parts of the old as would answer. We
had by this time got several jennies, and some weavers at work on linen
warps, bat had not been able to get cotton warps to a useful degree of per-
DESCRIPTION OF MACHINERY. 86
fection on the jennies; and although I had found the undertaking much more
arduous than I expected, both as to the attention necessary, and the expense,
being necessitated to employ workmen of the most transient kind, and on
whom little dependence could be placed, and to collect materials to complete
the various machines from distant parts of the continent. However, we (I
say we, because I had committed the immediate management of the business
to my son-in-law William Almy, and kinsman Smith Brown, under the
firm of Almy ^ Brown), contracted with the young man from England,
to direct and make a mill in his own way, which he did, and it answered a
much better purpose than the former ; but still imperfect, for want of other
machines ; such as cants of a different construction from those already made
and re-made over ; with various other machines preparatory to the spin-
ning. All which, with the necessary appendages, the mechanics skilled in
working of wood, iron, brass, &c, dbc., were more than a twelve-month com-
pleting, before we could get a single warp of cotton perfected. During this
time, linen warps were wove, and the jenny spinning was performed in
different cellars of dwelling houses. But finding the inconvenience of this,
we have now a factory house and dye shop erected, and occupy other build-
ings for the singeing, callendering, and other machines. There being a
variety of branches in the perfecting of the cotton business, as the picking,
soaping, stoning or dyeing the cotton : roping it, by hand or on machines,
spinning, bobbin winding, weaving, cutting for velvets or other cut goods,
singeing or dressing, bleaching, dyeing, and finishing, renders it more difil-
cult, and requires longer time to perfect than many other branches of busi-
ness, in a country where there are very few acquainted with it ; but when
each branch is learned, it may be extended to any length necessary, by
means of the great advantage of the machines, in the saving of labour.
There are also several other persons who manufacture cotton and linen by
the carding machines and jennies, but when they make all cotton goods, they
have the warps from Almy &, Brown's mills, — Samuel SkUeTj the young
man from England, being also concerned therein"
To this advantage, arising from the introduction of the Ark-
wright Patent, Alexander Hamilton refers, in his report, as secre-
tary of the treasury, made December 5, 1791, on the subject of
manufactures : — " The manufactory at Providence has the merit of^
being the first in introducing into the United States the celebrated
cotton mill (meaning Arkwright's patent) which, not only fui^nishes
materials for that manufactory itself, but for the supply of private
families, for household manufiicture."
In allusion to this notice, Mr. Himter, in his address before the
Rhode Island Agricultural Society, speaks very eloquently : — " On
an altar raised in decoration of manufactures, we would transfer
one from a fact recorded on a more imperishable monument than
the altar and temple itself, — Hamilton's report on manufactures,
in 1791, in which the introduction of the first cotton mill (meaning
the series of machines patented in England) in this country is
mentioned, and the introducer was — Slater,^^ The claim, which
• •
86 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
I have therefore made, is only an echo of pubUc acclamation,
issuing from the first secretary of the treasury of the United
States.*
Hamilton recommends, "the encouragement of new inven-
tions and discoveries at home, and the introduction into the
United States of such as may have been made in other countries,
particularly those which relate to machinery. This is among the
most useful and unexceptionable of the aids which can be given
to manu&ctures. The usual means of that encouragement are
pecuniary rewards, and, for a tune, exclusive privileges. The
first must be employed according to the occasion, and the utility
of the invention or discovery. For the last, so far as respects
< authors and inventors,' provision has been made by law. But
it is desirable, in regard to improvements and secrets of extraordi-
nary value, to be able to extend the same benefit to introducers^ as
well as authors and inventors, a poUcy which has been practised
with advantage in other countries. If the legislature of the Union*
cannot do all the good that might be wished, it is at least desirable
that all may be done which is practicable. Means for promoting
the introduction of foreign improvements, though less efficaciously
* The spinning machines of Arkwright and others had not been long
in operation in England, until they attracted the notice of traders in Scot-
land, who soon attempted what was then, to many, a most lucrative branch of
manufacture. But it is difficult to plant a manufacture in a new country,
even where there is no secret in the process \ and the difficulty was still
greater in this instance, where pains were taken to keep the business involved
in mystery. Many, who had been employed in the works of Arkwright, left
his service, pretending to a knowledge of the business, which they did not
possess; and those men were eagerly sought after by new adventurers in
both kingdoms. But, in most cases, those adventurers were no gainers by
the acquisition. This may easily be conceived, when we consider how very
^little a great proportion of the people now employed in cotton mills know,
and how much less they can communicate of the construction of the ma-
chinery, or the general system of the business ; and, if such be the case at
present, what must it have been at the period and place of which we are
speaking. It is supposed that the first cotton spun by water, in Scotland, was
in the island of Bute, in what had been a lint mill, and was afterwards, for
some time, the corn mill of Rothsay. But this was only by way of trial, and
before the completion of the larger cotton mill.
In the year 1782 a large mill, of six stories, was erected at Johnson ; there
is reason to suppose this was the fiist in Scotland that was productive of
much profit to the proprietors. Originally, it was managed by people from
England, but they proved of the description alluded to above ; and the pro-
prietors were indebted to the discernment, perseverance, and mechanical
genius of Mr. Robert Bu^ns, for rescuing the concern fiom ruin, and render-
ing the business a source of affluence.
• •
PROGRESS OP M ANUPACTURB8. 87
than might be accomplished with more adequate authority, will
form a plan intended to be submitted in the close of this report.
It is customary with manufacturing nations to prohibit, under
severe penalties, the exportation of implements and machines,
which they 'have either invented or improved. There is some^
thing in the texture of cotton, which adapts it in a peculiar degree
to the application of machines. The coiian mill (the Arkwright
patent) invented in England, within the last twenty years, is a
signal illustration of the general proposition which has just been
advanced. In consequence of it all the different processes for
spinning cotton are performed by means of machines, which are
put in motion by water, and attended chiefly by women and
children, and by a smaller number of persons, in the whole, than
are necessary in the ordinary mode of spinning. This very
important circumstance recommends the febrics of cotton, in a
more particular manner, to a country in which a defect of hands
constitutes the greatest obstacle to success. Among the most
useful and unexceptionable of the aids which can be given to
manu&ictures, is the encouragement of new inventions and disco-
veries at home, and of the introduction into the United States of
such as may have been made in other countries, particularly those
which relate to machinery.
^' Manufactories of cotton goods, not long since established at
Beverly, in Massachusetts, and at Providence in the state of
Rhode Island, and conducted with a perseverance corresponding
with the patriotic motives which began them, seem to have over-
come the first obstacles to success, producing corduroys, velverets,
fustians, jeans, and other similar articles, of a quality which will
bear a comparison with the like articles brought from Manchester.
Other manufactories of the same material, as regular business,
have also been begun at different places in the state of Connec-
ticut, but all upon a smaller scale than those above mentioned.
Some essays are also making in the printing and staining of cotton
goods. There are several small establishments of this kind already
on foot The printing and staining of cotton goods is known to
be a distinct business from the fabrication of them. It is one
easily accomplished, and which, as it adds materially to the value
of the article in its white state, and prepares it for a variety of
new uses, is of importance to be promoted."
Connected with the above report, Moses Brown states : — " The
public spirit of the Massachusetts legislature on this subject, as
well as Pennsylvania, are to be applauded, and in justice to the
latter I mention this circumstance: — The publication of their
88 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
grant to a certain person for a certain machine in this manu&c-
tory, reaching England, and coming to the knowledge of the
workmen at Arkwright's mills, occasioned the young man,
Slater, before mentioned, privately coming to America, and per-
fecting the first water-spinning in the United States that I have
heard of, — though I am informed a company from England are
about to erect mills near New York, for which the machinery is
making at New Haven. It is an undoubted fact, authenticated to
me by divers persons from England, that the king has frequently
made proclamation against any tradesmen leaving the kingdom,
and called on his officers for their most vigilant watch against
it, as well as against any draft of machinery being carried out.
This, also, should excite our attention to those advantages, which
they find of so much consequence to that country."
These remarks of Moses Brown show that he was a man of en-
larged and sagacious views of the importance of the cotton manu-
facture, and in his joining with the introducer in his endeavours
to establish it, as appears also by his further remarks : — " I have
been lengthy on this subject, not only because my family have
engaged in it, but because I conceive from the advantage of the
mills, and other machines, and the raising of the raw materials
among ourselves, this country may avail itself of one of the most
valuable manufactories, from which every part of the Union may
be supplied. I apprehend this subject would have been laid before
congress, by the united representation of the cotton manufacturers,
had not some states liberally contributed to the promotion of it,
particularly Massachusetts, and the incorporated company at
Beverly have partaken largely of their bounty, in proportion to
what they have done. Whether under an idea that the assistance
they had received would have enabled them to go on, while others
would be imder a necessity of discontinuing the business, (as some
have in fact, which they would not have done but for want of that
assistance in the same government, namely, the factory at Wor-
cester,) or whatever other reason the Beverly company may
have, they have not come forward as expected. I have men-
tioned yarn, as the importation of that article from India has been
suggested by the late manufacturing committee in Philadelphia,
at which time, no good yarn had been made fit for warps. But,
as the manufactory of the mill yarn (meaning the Arkwright
patent) is done by children from eight to fourteen years old, it is
as nearly a total saving of labour to the country as perhaps any
other that can be named, and therefore no importation of the yarn
ought to be admitted without a large impost, if at all — as the
PROGRESS OF MANUPACTURES. 89
secretary may be assured that mills and machines may be erected
in different places, in one year, sufficient to make all the cotton
yam that may be wanted in the United States, both for warps and
for knitting and weaving stockings, were encouragement given to
protect the manu&ctures from being intercepted in the sale, by
foreign importation." Such was the confidence that Moses Brown
had in the skill and enterprise of Samuel Slater, in July 1791,
that he believed he would cause to be erected sufficient machinery
to supply the whole continent with yam, in a year from that time.
'^ There are also cotton and linen goods manufactured at East
Greenwich ; their cotton warps are made at the aforesaid mills,
(meaning by Almy, Brown and Slater) the quantities manufactured
by those several persons, and others, in the common way of family
work, I expect will be given an account of by themselves, or col-
lected by the mechanical and manufacturing society of this town;
I therefore refer to them. For the degree of maturity our cotton
manufacture has obtained, and their different qualities, I refer to
the patterns of the mill yarn, and goods made from warps of it
herewith sent; the prices sold at are also marked."
Some of Mr. Slater's first yarn, and some of the first cotton
cloth made in America, from the same warp, was sent to the secre-
tary of the treasury, the 15th October, 1791, and may possibly be
preserved in the secretary's office, as Mr. Clay says he has some
of the first yam, which is said to be as fine as No. 40. As to the
impediments under which this business laboured, Moses Brown
observes, — " No encouragement has been given by any laws of
this state, nor by any donations of any society or individuals, but
wholly begun, carried on, and thus far perfected, at private
expense." I have never heard of any premium or advantage
conferred on Mr. Slater, for his introducing the cotton manufac-
ture, or for his establishing it on a permanent basis ; but his own
money and time were pledged to the object. " The manufacture
of iron into blistered steel, equal in quality to English, has been
begun, within about a year, in North Providence, and is carried
on by Oziel Wilkinson, who informed me he can make a good
business at ten per cent, for the steel in blister, returning weight
for weight with the iron manufactured ; the drawing into bars of
any shape, being an additional charge. I thought of speaking,
also, of pig and bar iron, slitting it into nail rods, rolling into
hoops and plates, making it into spades and shovels, hot and cold
nails, anchors, &c. all in this district."
Little more than sixty years since, every thread used in the
manufacture of cotton, wool, worsted, and flax, throughout the
12
90 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
world, was spun singly, by the fingers of the spinner, with the aid
of that classical instrument, the domestic spinning-wheel. In 1767
an eight-handed spinster sprung from the genius of Hargreaves ;
and the jenny J with still increasing power, made its way into com-
mon use, in spite of all opposition. Two years afterwards, the
more wonderful invention of Wyatt, which claims a much earlier
origin, but which had disappeared, like a river that sinks into a
subterraneous channel, and now rose again under the fortunate
star of Arkwright, claimed yet higher admiration, as founded on
principles of more extensive application. Five years later, the
happy thought of combining the principles of these two inventions,
to produce a third, much more efficient than either, struck the
mind of Crompton, wljo, by a perfectly original contrivance,
effected the union. From twenty spindles, this machine was
brought, by more finished mechanism, to admit of a hundred spin-
dles, and thus to exercise a Briarean power. Kelly relinquished
the toilsome method of turning the machine by hand, and yoked to
it the strength of the rapid Clyde. Watt, with the subtler and more
potent agency of steam, moved an iron arm that never slackens or
tires, which whirls round two thousand spindles in a single
machine. Finally, to consummate the wonder, Roberts dismisses
the spinner, and leaves the machine to its own infallible guidance.
So that, in the year 1834, several thousand spindles may be seen
in a single room, revolving with inconceivable rapidity, with no
hand to urge their progress or to guide their operations, — drawing
out, twisting, and winding up, as many thousand threads, with
unfailing precision, and indefatigable patience and strength ; a scene
as magical to the eye which is not familiarised with it, as the efiects
have beeen marvelous in augmenting the wealth and population
of the country. If the thought should cross any mind, that, after
all, the so much vaunted genius of our mechanics has been ex-
pended in the insignificant object of enabling men better to pick
out, arrange, and twist together the fibres of a vegetable wool, —
that it is for the performance of this minute operation that so many
energies have been exhausted, so much capital employed, such
stupendous structures reared, and so vast a population trained
up ; we reply — an object is not insignificant because the operation
by which it is efifected is minute. The first want of men in this
life, after food, is clothing ; and as this art enables them to supply
it far more easily and cheaply than the old methods of manufac-
turing, and to bring cloths of great elegance and durability within
the use of the humble classes, it is an art whose utility is inferior
only to that of agriculture. It contributes directly, and most
PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES. 91
materially, to the comforts of life, among all nations where manu-
facturers exist, or to which the products of manufacturing industry
are conveyed ; it ministers to the comfort and decency of the poor,
as well as to the taste and luxury of the rich. By supplying one
of the great wants of life, with a much less expenditure of labour
than was formerly needed, it sets at liberty a large proportion of
the population, to cultivate literature, science, and the fine arts.
To England, the new inventions have brought a material acces-
sion of wealth and power. When it is also remembered that the
inventions, whose origin I have endeavoured carefully to trace,
are not confined, in their application, to one manufacture, however
extensive, but that they have given nearly the same facilities to
the woollen, the worsted, the linen, the stocking, and the lace
manufactures, as to the cotton ; and that they have spread from
England to the whole of Europe, to America, and to parts of Africa
and Asia ; it must be admitted that the mechanical improvements,
in the art of spinning, have an importance which it is difiicult to
over-estimate. By the Greeks, their authors would have been
thought worthy of deification ; nor will the enlightened judgment
of modems deny that the men, to whom we owe such inventions,
deserve to rank among the chief benefactors of mankind.
It is not a little remarkable that Watt's patent, " for lessening
the consumption of steam and fuel, in fire engines," should have
been taken out in the same year as Arkwright's patent for spin-
ning with rollers, namely, 1769, — one of the most brilliant eras in
the annals of British genius ; — when Black and Priestley were
making their great discoveries in science; when Hargreaves,
Arkwright, and Watt revolutionised the processes of manufac-
tures ; when Smeaton and Brindley executed prodigies of engineer-
ing art; when the senate was illuminated by Burke and Fox,
Chatham and Mansfield ; when Johnson and Goldsmith, Reid and
Beattie, Hume, Gibbon, and Adam Smith, adorned the walks of
philosophy and letters ; and Whitfield, Hervey, and Cowper, re-
formed the protestant churches of Christendom.
To turn firom these high names to the subject of our me-
moir. The Rhode Island society for the encouragement of domes-
tic industry always treated Mr. Slater very respectfully, and the
following letter was filed among his papers : —
Samuel Slater ^ Esq,^ Pawtucket
Providence, 28th Feb. 1820.
Sir,— By the primary laws and list of the oflScers of the Rhode Island
Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry, herewith forwarded,
yoa wiU obtenre, that you are elected one of the vice presidents thereof.
92 MEMOIR OP SAMUEL SLATER.
The society will deem themselyes highly honoured in enrolling, among
their chief officers, one of the earliest papils of Arkwright, one who has
done so much for the promotion of domestic industry, peace and comforti
and one whose private character is so deservedly and universally respected
by the whole community.
I perform a pleasing duty while I respectfully solicit in behalf of the
society your acceptance of the office co which you have been chosen. I am
with sincere respect, your obedient servant,
Wm. E. Richmonu.
The state of Rhode Island justly claims the honour of being
one of the earliest seats of the mechanic arts and of manu&ctures,
on this side of the Atlantic. It has sustained, through the suc-
cessive periods of its history, the character of a manufacturing
and agricultural district.
A correspondent writes, in reference to the feet that Mr. Slater's
mind was first directed to Philadelphia, some reflections on the
supposition that he had taken that course, instead of wending his
way to Providence : — " Can there be any doubt that if Mr. Slater
hdd turned his steps towards Philadelphia, as he had thought, that
his undertaking would then have been attended with success?
In such an event what would have been the relative position of
Pennsylvania and Rhode Island at the end of twenty years from
that time, compared with their actual state at the close of that
period, in regard to manufactures of cotton ? Is it not seen that
almost the entire business of the country, which had become con-
siderable at that time, was made up of diflerent ramifications from
the original stock imported from Belper, and planted at Pawtucket?
Would the flood of labourers coming into the country and enrich-
ing it with their skill, have been directed to the village of Paw-
tucket? Or would it not have rather set in the direction of
Philadelphia ? And would not the result of all this have been a
very different state of things, even to this day, than exists now ?
These reflections, or similar, may aid in determining who was the
principal^ and who aided and abetted only.
" It is certain, that an individual in a distant land, with the defi-
nite and well matured design of establishing the cotton manufacture
in this country, on a plan the best then existing, did, after months
spent in perfecting himself at the fountain head in all the various
knowledge necessary to render success certain, leave bright pros-
pects, and an eligible situation in his native land, and bidding
adieu to his home, embarked for this country, with a spirit which
it cannot be doubted, with his means, must with certainty, his
life being spared, have gained for him the merit, whatever it
might be, of first establishing on a firm basis the cotton business
PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES. 93
in this country, without the aid of any one patron in particular ;
what the result was is pretty well known. You are aware that
before the introduction of the Arkwright process of manufacturing
cotton, there had been attempts made by Mr. Brown to prepare
yarns from cotton, on certain machines, to which he alludes in
his letters of that period, for the purpose of filling upon linen
warps. That these machines (for spinning only, for the carding
was done in families, by hand) did not answer the purpose, appears
from Moses Brown's own letter, as also that there were no persons
who had seen the operation of the Arkwright machinery, and
that all the machines which an attempt had unsuccessfully been
made to operate previous to the year 1790, at Pawtucket, or else-
where in the United States, could not have been profitably carried
on with the greatest degree of skill, and must therefore have been
abandoned, must be obvious to those who are acquainted with
their utter worthlessness compared with the Arkwright machinery.
I am very much gratified at the aspect of testimony in relation to
the moral influence of manufacturing establishments, and think
that the facts of the case cannot fail to weigh favourably upon the
public mind."
Mr. Slater's connection with the Wilkinson family, as men-
tioned by Moses Brown and Tristram Burgess, was certainly a
circumstance which led greatly to the promotion of bilsiness in
Pawtucket. David Wilkinson became a machinist of great skill,
and carried on the business in an extensive manner. He is a man
of great enterprise and judgment, and his failure in 1829 was
very much regretted. The capitalists of Rhode Island ought not
to have allowed David Wilkinson to leave the state. But he
is now planted at Caboose Fails, and that place has already felt
the benefit of his business talents, and his ardent zeal in internal
improvement.
Perhaps nothing will show more clearly the part which Moses
Brown took in early life, than the following letter : —
To Moses Brovm^ Esq.
Providence, July 7th, 1791.
Sir, — I take the liberty to send you the enclosed, being the copy of a letter
which I received a day or two since, from the secretary of the treasury, and
to request you to gi^e me, as soon as convenient, in writing, such inform-
ation as you may possess, (and which the secretary is solicitous to obtain,)
on the subjects stated in his letter. You will readily conceive that a trans-
mission of the information requested, ta the secretary, may involve conse-
quences favourable to the manufacturing interest in this state. I address
myself to you on this subject with the more confidence from a full convic-
tion, that as no one in the state has more at heart the eneoaragement of oar
94 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
infant manufactares — has been more indefatigable and liberal in the estm-
blishment, improvement and use of them than yourself, so no one can
possibly possess a more competent knowledge of their commencementi
progress, and present state. I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Jno. S. Dexter.
In connecting the name of Slater, with the first successful
introduction of manufacturing machinery info this country, it
will not be amiss to draw on the eloquence of a distinguished
statesman of Rhode Island. Mr. Burgess remarks : —
" A circumstance worthy of the attention of the whole nation, and
worthy also, of a fair page in her history, is the art and mystery
of making cloth with machinery moved by water power. This
was introduced into Rhode Island, and commenced in Pawtucket|
four miles from Providence, about the same time that the Ameri-
can system was established, by the impost law of July 4th, 1T89.
Samuel Slater, an English mechanic of the first order of mental
ability, brought this invention to Pawtucket. He could not bring
out from England, models, draughts, or specifications. The whole
art was tresisured in his own mind ; that alone, which could not
be rummaged and pillaged by any custom-house regulation. He, on
his arrival, addressed himself to Oziel Wilkinson and sons. They
were blacksmiths, whose hands were as skilful as their minds
were intelligent and persevering. I have often thought Divine
Providence directed Slater, and brought him to lay his project
before the Wilkinsons ; because he had not fitted any other men
in this country, with minds and abilities, either to see, and at once
comprehend the immense benefit of it ; or to understand and per-
form, what must be understood and performed, to bring this scheme
into full and perfect operation. I will not detain the house to
enumerate or even mention any benefits resulting to those who
have, from that time to this, engaged in the cotton trade. What
was the condition then, and what is now the condition, of the con-
sumption of cotton cloths in your country ? A yard of cloth, then,
made by the wheel and loom, cost fifty, and never less than forty
cents. It may now be had for nine or ten cents. A trade so pro-
ductive of public benefit will be duty appreciated by all patriots.
The law of July 4, 1789, was enacted by the almost unanimous
voice of the whole nation. By this law the great scheme was
commenced. The law of protection, enacted in 1816, was equally
national ; men from the east, the north, the south, and the west,
equally supported the measure. The bill was laid before the
house by the lamented Lowndes, of South Carolina. It was advo-
PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES. 96
cated, in every stage of its progress, by another distinguished
individual of the same state. When it passed this house, Hall
and Lumpkin of Georgia, Cannon and Powell of Tennessee,
Basset and JSarbour of Virginia, voted in favour of its passage. So
< as the bill related to the cotton trade, it was enacted with the
sole view to the protection of that great and increasing interest.
It was then known and acknowledged, though it seems now to be
forgotten, that this law for the protection of the cotton trade, was
founded on a most able, luminous, and statesman-like report,
made to that congress, by the chairman of the conunittee on
commerce, another distinguished gentleman from Virginia, Mr.
Newton."
In repeating the evidence, in relation to the foregoing facts, it
appears that previous to 1790, the year in which Samuel Slater
arrived in this country, there had been introduced into the United
States, at Providence, New York, Beverly, Worcester, &c. " jen-
nies," and " billies," with cards, for the spinning of cotton filling,
to be wove into velverets, jeans, fustians, &c., with linen warps,
chiefly by Scotisb and Irish spinners and weavers ; and the history
of these times declares the imperfection of the above machinery
to be such as to preclude the manufacture of cotton cloth, or cotton
yam for warps, and that there was a desire to import cotton yarn
from India : that it was even inadequate and its operations deficient
and expensive in its immediate application ; and further, that under
such difilculties and perplexities, it was entirely beyond the power
of American manufacturers to compete with foreign goods intro-
duced by British agents and American merchants, even when they
received legislative aid, as they did at Beverly.
The citizens of Massachusetts — perplexed and involved in their
incipient and imperfect attempts at tlie manufacturing of cotton
goods, and fully aware of the importance of introducing a better
system of machinery, which they knew to be in successful opera-
tion in England — exerted themselves to obtain a model of the
Arkwright patent. But finding no person able to construct that
series of machines, and unable to obtain one from England, in
consequence of the heavy and severe penalties imposed by the
British government on the exportation of mechanism, they entirely
failed in their first attempts. In this downcast period of American
manufactures, Samuel Slater, then in the employ of Strutt &
Arkwright, having seen a premium offered by the Pennsylvania
Society, for a certain machine to spin cotton, was induced to leave
his native country and come to America. On his arrival, being
informed that Modes Brown had made attempts in water spinning
96 MEMOm OF SAMUEL SLATER.
at Providence, he immediately repaired thither. On viewing
Moses Brown's machinery, he pronounced it worthless, and in-
duced him to lay it aside. At this period, without the aid of a
single individual skilled in making machinery, Samuel Slater con-
structed the whole series of machines on the Arkwright plan, and
put it in operation so perfectly, as to supply all the establishments
with cotton warps, superior to linen — and in fourteen months,
Moses Brown informed the secretary of the treasury that ma-
chinery and mills could be erected within one year to supply the
whole United States with yam, and render its importation un-
necessary. Such is the amount of evidence of the introduction
of the Arkwright machinery into this country. If the manufac-
turing establishments are in reality a benefit and blessing to the
Union, as Mr. Clay observes, the name of Slater must ever be
held in grateful remembrance by the American people.
Mr. Slater began his machinery under every disadvantage ; for
though he had full conOdence in his own remembrance of every
part and pattern, and in his ability to perfect the work, according
to his agreement, he found it difficult to get mechanics who could
make any thing like his models.
His greatest perplexity was in making the cards ; for which
purpose he employed Phinney Earl, of Leicester, who had never
before made any machine cards of that description. This cir-
cumstance gave rise to the published anecdote of his dream, by
which it was said he had been extricated from his embarrassment.
There is no wish to deny the possibility of such an occurrence,
if such had been the fact ; but I enquired of Mr. Slater, two
years previous to his decease, and he assured me such was not the
case. He related to me the reality of his obstructions : — after his
frames were ready for operation, he prepared the cotton, and
started his cards ; the cotton roDed up, on the top cards, instead of
passing through the small cylinder. This was a great perplexity
to him, and he was for several days in great agitation. The
family in whose house he boarded have since described his trial
to me. When leaning his head over the fireplace, they heard him
utter deep sighs, and frequently saw the tears roll from his eyes.
The family had become interested in his favour. He said but
little of his fears and apprehensions ; but Mrs. Wilkinson perceived
his distress, when she said to him, "art thou sick, Samuel?"
When he explained to the family the nature of his trial, he show-
ed the point on which he was most tender : — " If I am frustrated
in my carding machine, they will think me an impostor." He
was apprehensive that no suitable cards could be obtained, short
PROGRSSS OF MANUFACTURES. 97
of England — and from thence none were allowed to be ex-
ported.
After advising with Mr. Earl, and pointing out to him the defect,
he perceived that the teeth of the cards were not crooked enough,
as they had no good card leather, and were pricked by hand, the
puncture was too large, which caused the teeth to &11 back from
their proper place. They beat the teeth with a piece of grind-
stone, which gave them a proper crook, and the machinery moved
in order, to his great relief — and to the joy of his friends. Moses
Brown told me, that the machinery was so much longer in pre-
paration than he expected, that he was discouraged. Mr. Slater,
knowing this anxiety, and that he was Uable to lose the confidence
of his partners by the complete failure on his first trial of the cards,
and knowing that he could appeal to no one, who could judge of
the correctness of the machinery, it was no wonder that he was
distressed, or that it occupied his thoughts day and night — his
sleeping and waking hours. This circumstance gave rise to the
report of the dream.
Another rumour which has spread 'fiir and wide, calls for con-
tradiction and explanation. It has been positively asserted, that
the British government employed a person to assassinate Mr.
Slater, by means of an infernal machine ; similar, it is said, in
its operation, to the one employed to attempt the life of Na-
poleon. I never believed this story worthy of any attention,
till Mr. and Mrs. Slater made us a visit in Canterbury in 1827.
His coachman told it as an undoubted truth among the inhabitants
of the village ; it received implicit credit, on account of the sup-
posed knowledge of his driver, and it was spread as a Canterbury
tale. I therefore applied to my friend for a correct exposition of
the circumstance : — he assured me there was no ground whatever
for such a representation. It arose from the circumstance of a
box of clothes being sent him from England, and it was stopped
in the custom-house in New York, which the following letter to
Moses Brown, Providence, and endorsed by him will show.
Pawtucket, July 1st, 1790.
Sir — I have receiyed letters from England that there is a box at New
York with some clothes, which the officers have stopt^ the impost not being
paid. The clothes are new, but made for my use, and I supposed they would
be free of duty. Should be glad if you would use such means as you think
best, to get them with little or no duty, and oblige yours, &c.
Samuhl Slater.
N.B. I suppose there is more than a hundred dollars of clothes in the
box.
13
98 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
As a box actually came from England, which was directed to
Mr. Slater, and as there was a correspondence with the officers of
the customs, relative to the detention of the box ; with some re-
maining jealousies at that time towards old England, it was no
wonder under all the circumstances of the case, that such an evil
surmise should have arisen, and spread as a true report.
The public are assured that I have the fullest authority for the
above explanation. The tailor's bill of these very clothes is now
in possession of the family, and some of the buttons of the coat.
The tailor, at Helper, occupied a store of Mr. Slater's, which was
given him by his father, and these clothes were sent to pay the
rent.
As it has been observed, Mr. Slater started his cards in the
water-wheel belonging to the clothier's shop, which was so ex-
posed that it was frozen every night. He could get none to expose
themselves to break the ice, in order to start the wheel in the
morning. Those who can well remember the fact, informed me,
that he spent two or three hours breaking the ice, before breakfitst,
till he was wet and cold, and his limbs benumbed, which afiected
him very much. * This exposure laid the foundation of those
chronic disorders, from which he suffered so much in the latter
part of his life.
He took care to have his water-wheel, when he built his first
mill, under cover, having experienced the bad effects of a frozen
wheel. The first winter he spun on his frames, he endured great
hardships : and when he had produced an excellent yarn, there
was but little sale for it.
He had to instruct the bo3rs who assisted in the mill, and com-
mence the factory regulations ; as nothing of the kind was known
here.* The following is his first account of time and wages with
his workpeople.
* The wise and active conquer difficulties,
By daring to attempt them ; sloth and folly
Shiver and shrink at sight of toil and danger,
And make the impossibility ihey fear.
PBOORBB8 OPMANUFACTUBES.
CARDERS AND SPINNESIS' TIME LIST.
Decemb.
1790.
ac
i
$
=4
as
No,
««..
D.
S.
£. 1. d.
1
3
3
4
Arnold, Torpen,
Do. Chsrie.,
Wilkinwn. Smith,
6
6
G
S
37
■i
4
4
2ij
4
4
4
29
4
4
30
31
1
a
A
4
5
6
7
e
Arnold, Torpen,
Do. Chsri™,
Do. Eunisc,
Tenki, Jabez,
Do. J no.
Do. VurnuB.
Barrows. Otis,
Wilkin»n, Smith,
6
6
6
G
3
3
4
6
1791/
3
4
S
6
7
1
s
3
4
5
7
6
9
Arnold, Torpen,
Do. Charlea,
Do. EUQIM,
Do. Ann,
Do. John,
Do. Vvnot,
Wiikinioo. Smith,
BorrowB, Oli*.
6
6
6
6
G
6
6
6
6
10
11
12
13
2
U
5
4
2
Arnold, Torpen,
Do. Ch«l™,
Do. EoniM,
Jcnk., J.b«,"
Do. John,
Do. Varnu.,
Wilkinson. Smith,
BorroK*, Oti*.
5
6
6
6
6
6
6
5
6
The &ctoi7 system in England takes its rise from the period
of the. trial concerning the VBlidity of the patent, by Arkwrighl,
in 1785. Hitherto the cotton manufacture had been carried on
almost entirely in the houses of the workmen, the hand or stock
cards, the spinning wheel, and the loom, required no larger apart-
mmt than that of a cottage. A spinning jenny of small size
might also be used in a cottage, and in many instances was m
used; wiien the number of spindles was considerably incrcaiMMl,
adjacmt work-shops were used. But the water-frame, the c'lrdinff
engine, and the other machines which Arkwright brought rtiit in
a finished stale, required both more space than could Ihi fniinil jn
t cottage, and more power than could be applied by Ihn hiinuili
aim. Their wei^t also rendered it necessary to place thniti III
•trongly built mills, and they could not be advantageoimly liirnnd
100 MEMOIR OP SAMUEL SLATER.
by any power then known, but that of water. The use of ma-
chinery was accompanied by a greater division of labour than
existed in the primitive state of the manufacture ; the material
went through many more processes, and of course, the loss of timei
and the risk of waste, would have been much increased, if its
removal from house to house at every stage of the manufitcturei
had been necessary. It became obvious that there were several
important advantages in carrying on the numerous operations of an
extensive manufacture in the same building. Where water power
was required, it was economy to build one mill, and put up one
water-wheel, rather than several. This arrangement also enabled
the master spinner himself to superintend every stage of the
manufacture ; it gave him a greater security against the wastefiil
or fraudulent consumption of the material — it saved time in the
transference of the work firom hand to hand, and it prevented the
extreme inconvenience which would have resulted from the failure
of one class of workmen to perform their part, when several other
classes of workmen were dependent upon them. Another circum*
stance which made it advantageous to have a large number of
machines in one manufactory, was, that mechanics must be em-
ployed on the spot, to construct and repair the machinery, and
that their time could not be fully occupied with only a few
machines. All these considerations drove the cotton spinners to
that important change in the economy of English manufiictures —
the introduction of the factory system ; and when that system had
once been adopted, such were its pecuniary advantages, that mer-
cantile competition would have rendered it impossible, even had
it been desirable, to abandon it. The enquiry into the moral and
social effects of the factory system, will deserve our attention.
Though Arklvright, by his series of machines, was the means of
giving the most wonderful extension to the system, yet he did not
absolutely originate it. Mills for the throwing of silk had existed
in England, though not in any great number, firom the time of
Sir Thomas Lombe, who in 1719 erected a mill on the river
Derwent, at Derby, on the model of those he had seen in Italy.
Wyatt's first machines, at Birmingham, were turned by asses, and
his establishment at Northampton by water ; so Arkwright's first
mill, at Nottingham, was moved by horses ; his second, at Crom-
ford, by water. During a period of ten or fifteen years after Mr.
Arkwright's first mill was built (in 1771) at Cromford. all the
principal works were erected on the falls of considerable rivers;
no other power than water having then been found practically
useful.
PROGRESS OP MANUFACTURES. 101
Those who have not taken the trouble to witness, or to enquire
into, the process by which they are surrounded with the conve-
niences and comforts of civilised life, can have no idea of the infi-
nite variety of ways in which invention is at work to lessen the
cost of production. The people of India, who spin their cotton
wholly by hand, and weave their cloth in a rude loom, would
doubtless be astonished when^ they first saw the efiects of ma-
chinery in the calico which is returned to their own shores, made
firom the material brought from their own shores, cheaper than
they themselves could make it. But their indolent habits would
not permit them to enquire how machinery produced this wonder.
There are many amongst us who only know that the wool grows
on the sheep's back, and that it is converted into a coat by labour
and machinery. They do not estimate the prodigious power of
thought — ^the patient labour — the unceasing watchfiilness — the
frequent disappointment — the uncertain profit — ^which many have
had to encounter in bringing this machinery to perfection. How
few, even of the best informed, know that in the cotton manufac-
ture, which from its inunense amount, possesses the means of
rewarding the smallest improvement, invention has been at work,
and most successfully, to make machines that make the cotton
thread. There is a part of the machinery used in cotton-spinning
called a reed. It consists of a number of pieces of wire, set side
by side in a frame, resembling, as far as such things admit of com-
parison, a comb with two backs. These reeds are of various lengths
and degrees of fineness, but they all consist of cross pieces of wire,
fisistened at regular intervals between longitudinal pieces of spUt
cane, into which they are tied with waxed thread, and the ma-
chine cuts the wire, places each small piece with unfailing regu-
larity between the canes, twists the thread round the cane with a
knot that cannot slip, every time a piece of wire is put in, and
does several yards of this extraordinary work in almost as little
time as it takes to read this description.
The most marked traits in the character of Arkwright were his
wonderful ardour, energy, and perseverance. He commonly
laboured in his multifarious concerns, from five o'clock in the
morning till nine at night; and when considerably more than
fifty years of age, — feeling that the defects of his education pleu^
him imder great difiiculty and inconvenience in conducting his
correspondence, and in the general management of his business,-—
he encroached upon his sleep, in order to gain an hour each day
to learn English granunar, and another hour to improve his
writing and orthography. He was impatient of whatever inter-
102 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
fered with his favourite pursuits ; and the feet is too strikingly
characteristic not to be mentioned, that he separated from his wife
not many years after their marriage, because she, convinced that
he would starve his family by scheming when he should have been
shaving, broke some of his experimental models of machinery.
Arkwright was a severe economist of time, and, that he might
not waste a moment, he generally traveled with four horses, and
at a very rapid speed. His concerns in Derbyshire, Lancashire^
and Scotland, were so extensive and numerous, as to show at once
his astonishing power of transacting business, and his all-grasping
spirit. In many of these he had partners, but he generally managed
in such a way, that, whoever lost, he himself was a gainer. So un-
bounded was his confidence in the success of his machinery, and in
the national wealth to be produced by it, that he would make light
of discussions on taxation, and say that he would pay the national
debt ! His speculative schemes were vast and daring; he contem-
plated entering into the most extensive mercantile transactions,
and buying up all the cotton in the world, in order to make an
enormous profit by the monopoly ; and from the extravagance of
some of these designs, his judicious friends were of opinion, that
if he had lived to put them in practice, he might have overset the
whole fabric of his prosperity.
Moses Brown introduced Mr. Slater to Oziel Wilkinson of
Pawtucket, R. I., as a suitable place for him to board ; as the
stranger came into the house, the two daughters, as is not uncom-
mon, ran out of sight ; but Hannah lingered with curiosity, and
looked through an opening in the door : Samuel saw her eyes, and
was interested in her favour. He loved at first sight, but it was
sincere, it was permanent, nothing but death could have severed
the ties which endeared him to Hannah Wilkinson. He was
happy in fixing his affections so soon on one who loved him, and
on one so worthy ; that loadstone served to bind him to Pawtucket,
when every thing else appeared dreary and discouraging. The
parents of Hannah being Friends, they could not consistently
give consent to her marriage out of the society, and talked of
sending her away some distance to school ; which occasioned Mr.
Slater to say, — " You may send her where you please, but I will
follow her to the ends of the earth."
Though absorbed in perplexing business, his hours of relaxa-
tion were cheering; he spent them in telling Hannah and her
sister the story of his early life, the tales of his home, of his &mi]y
connections, and of his father-land.
This introduction was one of the favourable circumstances that
CORBBSPONDENCE WITH ENGLAND. 103
finally secured his success. In Oziel Wilkinson's family, he found
a father and mother, who were kind to him as their own son.
He was not distrustful of his ability to support a family — did not
wait to grow rich before marriage, but was willing to take his bride
for better and for worse, and she received the young- Englishman
as the man of her choice, and the object of her first love. This
connection with Oziel Wilkinson was of great service to him, as
a stranger, inexperienced in the world beyond his peculiar sphere.
Besides, it is well known, that sixty years since, the contrast of
character of New England men and manners, in men of business,
and other peculiarities, were very great between the two countries.
He found consolation in that £unily, he found a home. Those
who have left their native country, know something of what
Slater felt when he was "home-sick." On seeing the old and
worthless machinery, as Moses Brown expressed it, " Samuel felt
down-hearted.^^ No one knows the heart of a stranger but he who
has been from home in a strange land, without an old acquaint-
ance, without a tried friend to whom he could unbosom his anxie-
ties — without confidence in those around him, and others without
confidence towards him. These are sorrows only known to the
sufierer who knows the heart of a stranger, and no sympathies
can be expected but from those who have trodden in the same
path. Mr. Slater always treated the numerous strangers who
flocked to him for advice, assistance, or employment, with marked
attention, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
It is easy to conceive that his correspondence with his old
schoolmaster must have been highly gratifying to his feelings.
In that way he heard of what they were doing in Belper, and
proved the truth of the assertion, how valuable is good news from
a far country.
Helper, ]lth Jan. 1792.
My dear friend, — I am much obliged to yon for the favour of your letter,
and with pleasure embrace this opportunity of answering it ; though the
Atlantic rolls between us, I hope our friendship will remain undiminished.
I wish you every felicity which the honourable state you have entered into
can afford — may you enjoy a long life of domestic comfort and prosperous for-
tunes, is my sincere wish. I myself have ventured to put on the shackles of
matrimony, and find in it those charms which I in vain sought for in the
idle and dissipated pursuits of a single life— though I am willing to hope I
never materially trespassed against the laws of decorum.
I have delayed writing, some weeks, in order to be able to answer some
of your enquiries more decidedly than I am at present able to do. This is
the most important era which the history of the world has ever furnished.
All is agitation and confusion ; what the event will be, God only knows.
104 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
You have no doubt heard of the fate of the combined armies against France,
and the success of the French commanders, Dumourier, Castine, dbc^ in
Brabant and Germany. They have carried all before them ; but I fear tho
French, elated with victory, are now aiming at too much. They seem, con-
trary to their former declarations, to be actuated by the desire of conquest.
They have added Savoy to the republic as an S4th department. I am •
warm admirer of the French revolution, as it is likely to establish the liberty
of twenty-six millions of my species; but I lament, grievously lament, the
many disorders with which it has been attended. The fate of the king I
cannot send you, though it will finally be decided in a few days ; they are now
trying him, his defence has been heard by counsel ; Deseze, his first counsel,
dealt long and ably on the acts of the new constitution, which declares the
inviolability of the king's person. I believe the business will be finally
decided by the people at large, in their primary assemblies ; and I believe
that perpetual banishment will be the sentence. At least I hope this, for if
they touch his life, there is not a state in Earope but what will join the
detestable crusade against them. Indeed, there is something in the fate of
monarchs which is interesting to the mind ; I know it is a remain of the
doctrine of divine right, which was formerly so prevalent in all countries.
I own I shall feel hurt if they touch Louis's life, though I think him guilty.
Much, very much, depends on the event, not only to France, but the world.
France, I believe, is pretty free from internal commotions at present ; but
various preparations are making for the next campaign, in Germany, Prussia,
Russia, &c. Britain and Holland, too, are arming to fall upon her next
spring. They have given umbrage to their high mightinesses by attempting
to open the river Scheldt. We, you know, are in alliance with Holland and
Prussia ; we, that is, our government, must assist them for that reason, bat
perhaps more for others, which will readily occur to you. A republic like
France, cannot be a pleasant thing to a certain description of men, and 1
believe all that can be done will be done to crush it. But an armament it
nothing with us ; it is but an annual advertisement ; we have had four in at
many years, yei no war. However, I believe we have now a pretext for a
war with France. Yesterday's papers inform us that an English sloop of
war received a shot from the batteries at Brest, — quere, did not she go to
provoke them? I believe the people in general of this country do not wish
for war. Every thinking man knows we have a flourishing trade, which
war must very much injure ; he knows, too, that we have a public debt of
upwards of two hundred and seventy millions, and a revenue to raise in
these times of peace of seventeen mllions annually, yet we are purse proud.
As to the stadtholder, I cannot suppose he has forgotten the disturbances of
his people four years since. Does he think they have forgotten it ? If he
puts his finger in this fire, I am much mistaken if he will not have to call
in Prussia and us to quell them again. Spain has declared her intention of
neutrality in case the king's life is spared. I would here ask you what part
America will take in case Britain does declare war against France. I think
I can see it. I believe America will not overtly assist her by declaring
formal war ; but your ports will be open to Fiance ; you will fit out privateers
under French colours. I fear, my friend, this will be the case, and that
harmony which exists between this country and you will be suspended,
perhaps to the inconvenience of both. It is rumoured that Turkey is arming
PBOORESS OF MANUFACTURES. 106
against Rassia, but of the truth of this I can say nothing. This country,
with respect to politics, never stood in so precarious a situation. Societies
have been formed in various places for the discussion of constitutional sub-
jects for the purpose of promoting a reform of parliament. Government has
taken the alarm, and loyal meetings are calling in every considerable town
in the kingdom to testify their adherence to the present government. Much
difference of opinion prevails in parliament, and the business is discussed in
a very intemperate manner, every night in every inn and alehouse in the
kingdom. I am a friend to reform, because our representation is unequal,
and dislike the conduct of both of the parties, because I think them both
wrong. I am well assured that our present government, a mild and good
constitution compared with others, is best for us ; but many things call
loudly for amendment. A few persons have avowed republican principles,
and insisted too much for the introduction of French politics to this country.
For America, I am sensible a republican (that is, the representative) form
of government is best. But for Britain, a limited monarchy, certain. I
have no room to give you my reasons for this. made an able and
manly speech at the opening of parliament. It will find its way to America, ^
and is well worth perusal -, it has been published some time. Burke rants
against reformers and the "swinish multitude," as usual. Thomas Paine
is one of the members of the French convention ; he has been tried for trea-
son. Rights of Man, parts 1 and 2, and Common Sense, condemned as a
libel on our constitution. Many other persons are in prison, and in the
courts of justice, for publishing what are termed seditious writings. French
refugees are so numerous, and government is so alarmed, that a bill is now
in the house of commons and will soon be passed, entitled the "Alien Bill,"
which will empower officers to search all foreigners who may arrive in
Britain, and scrutinise them as to their means of living here, and their busi-
ness. How will your independent republican merchants like this? From
this you will see that this is not the happiest of countries. Happy America,
thou hast no such foes — thou art free ; and thy sons and daughters are not
harassed by political arts. I have said nothing on local subjects, as I sup-
posed your other friends would supply that. John Spencer, senr. was lately
drowned. Sir R. Arkwright is dead, James Liggit is at Canterbury — I
believe doing well. Messrs. Strutts go on swimmingly — they are erecting a
rery large mill at Belper ; and Mr. George is beginning to build himself a
noble house on the bridge hill, just above the watering troughs. Present
my respects to Mrs. Slater, and believe me yours very sincerely,
T.J.
To Samuel Slater, North Providence, North America.
This letter from Mr. Jackson, shows that he was an intelligent
man ; and he appears to have continued his correspondence with
his pupil.
Smith Wilkinson, Esq., the principal owner of that fine estate,
called the Pomfret foctory, Connecticut, has favoured me with his
early recollections in relation to the conunencement of the business
in Pawtucket, as the following extract will evince : —
14
^
106 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
'< Mr. Slater boarded in my father's family, at which time there
were only a few houses, while building his first machinery, and
in the course of the year was married to my sister Hannah, who
died in 1812, leaving six sons quite young, having buried four
children. When the manufacturing business first conmienced in
Pawtucket, it may be very naturally supposed that it was fire-
quently a subject of conversation, especially in a family so im-
mediately connected with it. I recollect to have heard frequent
conversations on the subject, in which the state and progress of
the business was discussed.
" An attempt to manufacture cotton was made at Derby, in Con-
necticut, under the patronage of Colonel Humphreys, latq minister
to Spain. One at or near Hurlgate, New York, under the patron-
age of Mr. Livingston, was commenced, but failed, and was
abandoned. I believe nearly all the cotton factories in this coun-
try, from 1791 to 1805, were built under the direction of men who
had learned the art or skill of building machinery, in Mr. Slater's
employ. Mr. Slater used to spin both warp and filling on the
water-frame up to 1803. The operations of manufactories up to
1817, were confined to spinning yarn only, which was put out in
webs, and wove by hand-loom weavers. Mules for spinning fill-
ing had not then been introduced. The cotton used to be put out
to poor families in the country, and whipped on cords, stretched
on a small frame about three feet square, and the motes and specks
were picked out by hand, at four to six cents per pound, as it
might be, for cleanness."
From the above, it appears, that at the conmiencement of the
manu&cturing business, Mr. Slater was under the necessity of
hiring mechanics, or workmen, in iron and wood, of the then
common trades of the country, and teaching them the trade of
building machinery ; in consequence of which, he made very
slow progress, in erecting his first and second establishments ; it
being the custom then, and for many years after, not only by him,
but of all who went into the business, to erect machine shops ;
generally in the basement or first story of the building, where all
the machinery was constructed. Tn^798, Mr. Slater entered into
company with Oziel Wilkinson, Timothy Green, and William
Wilkinson, the two latter, as well as himself, having married
daughters of Oziel Wilkinson. He built the second mill, on the
east side of Pawtucket river, the firm being Samuel Slater & Co.,
himself holding one half of the stock.
A short time afterwards, his hands in this mill revolted ; five or
six of them went to Cumberland, and erected a small mill, owned
PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES. 107
by Elisha Waters, and some others named Walcot. From these
men and their connections, several factories were commenced in
various parts of the country,<and in fact most of the establishments
erected from 1790 to 1809, were built by men who had, either
directly or indirectly, drawn their kilowledge of the business from
Pawtucket, the cradle of the cotton business. Mr. Slater used to
work cotton from Cayenne, Surinam, and Hispaniola, and made
first quality of yarn. Some time after, when short cotton began
to be used, he mixed about one third — he called the yam of such,
second quality, making fifteen cents per lb. difference. Thus
while No. 12 was eighty-four cents of second quality. No. 12 of
first quality was ninety-nine cents per lb.
Mr. Samuel Slater, on the establishmesnt of the old mill, in-
troduced among the labourers therein such regulations, as his pre-
vious observations of cotton mills in Derbyshire had shown to be
useful and applicable to the circumstances of an American popula-
tion. Amongst these, that which every philanthropist will deem
the most important, was the system of Sunday-school instruction* —
which had been for some time in full operation, at all the mills
of Messrs. Strutt and Arkwright, when Mr. Slater left England.
These schools, the first of the kind in America, are still con-
tinued at tlie present day. They have been copied, and extended
with the extension of the cotton manufacture through this country;
and they have prompted the establishment of similar schools in
our seaport towns and in foreign countries. It was from Pawtucket
that they were introduced into Providence in 1815, by the young
men of the latter place, one of whom, William Jenkins, had been
a clerk with Mr. Slater. These institutions were at first considered
* Twelve hundred persons are employed in the cotton factories of Mr.
Thomas Ashton, of Hide, England. This gentleman has erected commo-
dious dwellings for his work-people, with each of which he has connected
every convenience that can minister to comfort. He resides in the im-
mediate vicinity, and has frequent opportunities of maintaining a cordial
association with his operatives. Their houses are well furnished, clean,
and their tenants exhibit every indication of health and happiness. Mr.
Ashton has also built a school, where 640 children, chiefly belonging to his
establishment, are instructed on Tuesdays, in reading, writing, arithmetic, Slc.
A library, connected with this school, is eagerly resorted to, and the people
frequently read after the hours of labour have expired. An infant school is,
during the week, attended by 280 children, and in the evenings others are
instructed by masters selected for the purpose. The factories themselves
are certainly excellent examples of the cleanliness and order which may
be attained, by a systematic and persevering attention to the habits of the
artisans.
108 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
as charity schools only ; and the teachers paid by the young men.
They were subsequently taken under the care and patronage of
the different religious societies, by whom they have been made to
serve the purpose of biblical instruction. In addition to these
schools for Sunday instruction, the establishment and support of
common day schools was promoted at all the manufactories in
which Mr. Slater was interested ; and in some cases, the teachers
were wholly paid by himself. Regular and stated public worship,
also, was liberally supported at those points where the people could
be most conveniently assembled. A strict, though mild and pater-
nal scrutiny of the conduct of the workpeople was maintained ;
and prudent and effectual regulations against disorderly and im-
moral behaviour secured the peace, harmony, and quiet, of the
mill companies. The introduction of manufacturing was thus, in
every place, a harbinger of moral and intellectual improvement,
to the inhabitants of the vicinage, and the numerous operatives
from remote and secluded parts of the country, attracted to the
manufacturing villages by the employment, comforts, and con*
veniences which they afforded. Hundreds of families of the
latter description, originally from places where the general poverty
had prechidcd schools and public worship, brought up illiterate
and without religious instruction, and disorderly and vicious in
ronsoi]uence of their lack of regular employment, have been trans-
planted to these new creations of skill and enterprise ; and by the
ameliorating effects of study, industry, and instruction, have been
reclaimed, civilised. Christianised. Not a few of them have accu-
mulated and saved, by close application and moderate economy,
ver\' handsome estates. Indeed, such have been the blessed re-
sults of concentrating and giving employment to a population
formerly considered almost useless to the community, that there
is among our manutacturing population at this moment, a greater
numbiT of males, of Irom twenty to thirty years old, who are
worth from $3(H) to SUKK) eacli, and of marriageable females
wortli from SUK) to §SlH) each, than can be found in any popula-
tion, out of tlie manutacturing villages.
The impulse given to industry- and production by the cotton
manufacture lias not l^een confined to one branch of business
alone : but has been felt in ever\' sort of emplopnent, useful to the
community. We netni not. in this place, enlarge upon the close
athnity and mutual dependence of these various employments;
they aiv obvious to every mind which has acquired the habit of
tracing results to their causes in the endless relations of society.
As a :^^neral tact, it is uodoubtedlv true, that the advance of our
PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES. 109
country, in the production and manufacture of wool and iron, has
been greatly accelerated by the cotton manufacture ; and tliat those
branches of industry have always been deeply aflfected by the
temporary reverses which this branch has experienced. Mr. Slater
was, for many years, and at the time of his death, concerned in
woollen and iron, as well as cotton manufactories ; and his obser-
vation and sagacity never suffered him to question the identity of
their interests.*
There was another point on which his views and sentiments^
though decried by some, as too disinterested and liberal in any
matter of business, were truly wise and sagacious, and fully con-
curred in by his partners. He always maintained that legislative
protection would be beneficial to himself as well as others, — ^to
those already established in business and having an ample capital,
as to those who were just beginning, and with little or no capital.
This opinion, maugre all the huckstering calculations and short-
sighted views of would-be-monopolists, was certainly the best for
himself. Monopoly, in this country, and by any man or set of
men subject to our laws, is unattainable, either by legislation or
combination. It is, or ought to be, excluded from all the calcula-
tions of a sober and practical business mind. There was, there-
fore, nothing in their preoccupation of the cotton business that
gave them an advantage over other manufacturers, except their
skill and capital. Of these advantages, legislation could not or
would not deprive them ; and with them on their side^ they could
extend their investments as fast, certainly with as much profit, as
those who were without them, or with capital only. Events have
fully sustained these views. The fostering protection of the
government, up to the election of the president who now is, brought
forward and established many adventurers who had begun with-
out money or skill, but have since acquired both ; whilst those
* Their subsequent business, up to the year 1806, turned their thoughts
upon a more extended investment in spinning. John Slater, brother of
Samuel, had arrived from England, and had, roost probably, brought with
him a knowledge of the recent improvements of the English spinners. The
now flourishing village of Slaiersville, in Smithfield, was then projected ;
and John Slater embarked as a partner, and in June of the same year, re-
moved to Smithfield as superintendent of the concern. In the spring of 1807
the works were sufficiently advanced for spinning ; and they have been, up
to the present time, under the very prosperous management of that gentle-
man, in an uninterrupted state of improvement. This fine estate was first
owned, in equal quarters, by the four original partners, but now wholly
belongs to John Slater and the heirs of his late brother.
I
110 MBMOIR OF aAHDGL SLATER.
wlio preceded ihem in the business are, ^nerally, as far in advance i
ol' ihem as lliey were before. In the measures adopted by the
manufacttiring; districts of our country to obtain this protection,
Mr. Slater was ever a prominent and efficient man ; and his name i
was affixed to the memorials from the people of tliis vicinity, from I
titne to lime presented in the two houses of congress.*
Tiie impression, that Mr. Slater was " an obscure, humble emif J
grant," was a sentiment more general than correct. Few youngf ■]
men were better situated for advancement in life in his own cotin- ]
* A question has been made coacerning ihe conslitulional right of the I
goveinmeul of the United Stales to apply this species of encou rage men 1 1
but there is certainly no good foundaiion for such a questioa. The d
legislature has express auihority " To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts,
and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and gene-
ral welfare," with no other qualiGcations than that "all duties, imposts, and
ezcisee, shall be urtiform throughout the United Slates ; that no cspiiatloQ
OT other direct tax shall be laid unless in proportion to numbers ascertained
by a census or enumeration taken on the principles prescribed in the consti-
lutioD ;" and that " no lax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any
stale." These three qualifications ejicepted, the power to raise money is
plenary and indefinite ; and the objects to which it may be appropriated are
DO less comprehensive, than the payment of the public debt<i, and the pro-
viding for the common defence and general welfare. The terms "geoenl
welfare" were, douhiless, intended to signify more than was expressed or ■
impotted in those which preceded ; olhecwise numerous exigencies, incident 1
10 the afiuirs ofa nation, would have been left without a provision.
The phrase is as coniprehensive as any that could have been used ; beCBOW
il was not fit that the constitutional authority of the Union, to appropriate
its revenues, should have been restricted within narrower limits than the
"general welfare;" and because this necessarily embraces a vast Taiiely of
particulars, which are susceptible neither of specification nor of definition,
it is therefore of necessity left to the discretion of the national legislature, to
pronounce upon the objects, which concern the " general welfare," and fat
which, under that description, an appropriation of money is requisite ud
proper. And there seems to be no room for a doubt, that whatever concenu
the general interests of learning, of agriculture, of manufactures, and of
commerce, are within the sphere of the national councils, as far at regards
an application of mimey. The only qualification of the generality of the
phrase in question, which seems to be admissible, is this, — that the object,
to which an appropriation of money is to be made, be general and not local}
its operation extending, in fact, or by possibility, ihroughout the Union, and
not being confined lo a particular spot No objection ought to arise to ihil^ I
construction, from a supposition that il should imply a power to do wbatevefi 1
else should appear to congress conducive to the general welfare. A powet I
to appropriate money with this latittide, which is granted in express termif I
would not carry a power to do any other thing, not authorised in the
lution, either expressly or by fair implication.— ^amtUoii'* Keport.
m
1^
PROGRESS OF MANUFACTURES. Ill
try ; and few in this had more resources at his age than he. Moses
Brown's plain manner of speaking of the partner of his son-in-law,
led, in some measure, to this mistake ; and Mr. Slater, if he knew
it, would ne^er take the pains to explain his condition, or do any
thing to disabuse public opinion with regard to his personal
afiairs ; for he was never known to boast of any thing relating to
himself, whether of property or abilities, being ever acknowledged
a modest, unassuming man. Capital alone is not worthy of credit,
unless associated with moral qualities in the tradesman ; for a
prudent man of great industry, integrity, and knowledge in his
business, is more worthy of credit without capital, than a rich
man, ignorant of his business. Persons who begin with large
capitals do not succeed, generally speaking, so well as those who
begin with small ones cautiously administered.
It is proper, perhaps, to close this chapter with an extract from
a " Short Sketch of the Life of Slater," in the Providence Journal :
" Such are the outlines of the business life of a man, whose skill
and knowledge of detail, in a business which, up to the time of
his appearance among us, was unknown to this community, were
unrivaled, whose commercial views were of the most liberal and
enlightened character, — ^whose energy, perseverance, and untiring
diligence, aided in his early eiSforts by the money and countenance
of those who justly appreciated his merits and confidently antici-
pated his eminence, have triumphed over obstacles which wouhl
have discouraged others ; have given a new direction to the indus-
try of his adopted country, and opened a new and boundless field
to its enterprise. It has rarely fallen to the lot of any single indi-
vidual to be made an instrument, under Providence, of so much
and such widely diflfused benefit to his fellow-men, as this man
has conferred upon them, without any pretension to high-wrought
philanthropy, in the ordinary, unostentatious pursuit of that pro-
fession to which he had been educated, as a means of honest and
creditable living. Yet, unpretending as he was, and noiseless in
that sublimated charity, which is now so fashionable and predomi-
nant, his sympathy for the distressed, and his kindness and good
will for all, were ever warm, active, practical, and efficient
sentiments; based upon steadfast principles, and aiming at the
greatest attainable measure of good. In the relief of immediate
and pressing want he was prompt and liberal. In the measures
^hich he adopted for its prevention in future, he evinced paternal
feeling and judicious forecast. Employment and liberal pay to
the able-bodied promoted regularity and cheerfulness in the house,
and drove the wolf iiom its door. ^ Direct charity,' he has been
112 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
heard to say, 'places its recipient under a sense of obligation which
trenches upon that independent spirit that all should maintain. It
breaks his pride, and he soon learns to beg and eat the bread of
idleness without a blush. But employ and pay him, and he re-
ceives and enjoys, with honest pride, that which he knows he has
earned, and could have received for the same amount of labour
from any other employer.' It would be well for all communities
if such views, on the subject of pauperism, were generally adopted
and carried into practice. It is hardly necessary to state, concern-
ing one who has done so much business, and with so great success,
that his business habits and morals were of the highest character.
The punctual performance of every engagement, in its true spirit
and meaning, was, with him, a point of honour, from which no
consideration of temporary or prospective advantage would induce
him to depart ; from which no sacrifice of money or feeling were
sufficient to deter him. There was a method and arrangement in
his transactions by which every thing was duly, and at the proper
time attended to. Nothing was hurried from its proper place,
nothing was postponed beyond its proper time. It was thus that
transactions the most varied, intricate, and extensive, deeply affect-
ing, and affected by, the general business of three adjoining states,
and extending their influence to thousands of individuals, pro-
ceeded from their first inception to their final consunmiation, with
an order, a regularity and certainty, truly admirable and instruc-
tive. The master's mind was equally present and apparent in
every thing ; from the imposing mass of the total to the most
minute particular of its component parts."
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 113
CHAPTER IV.
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS.
** There is no artist, or man of indastr j, who mizeth judgment with his pnctioe, bnt
findeth in the travail of his labour, better and nearer courses to make perfect the beauty
of his work, than were at first presented to the eje of his knowledge.**
We have already seen that manufacturing establishments exert
a powerful and permanent influence in their immediate neighbour-
hoods, and time, if not already, will teach the lesson, that they
will stamp indelible traits upon our moral and national character.
Evidences abound, wherever man exists, that his character is
modified by localities, by a diversity of pursuits, by a facility of
acquiring a living, by the quality and fashion of the living itself,
by a restrained or free exercise of his rational powers, and by
restraint on the enjoyment of liberty. Difierent cUmates and
difierent countries produce indelible pecuUarities. In the same
climate and in the same country similar changes appear, from the
effects of immoral habits, and from what may be termed artificial
or mechanical causes. The efiects of immoral habits are well
known to all observers of human nature.
Those pursuing difi*erent occupations are aware that these exert
an influence upon character, producing moral, no less than phy-
sical, varieties. For example, butchers become hard-hearted and
cruel, and in England are excluded from the jury-box ; those who
are confined to a particular routine against their will, peevish and
discontented ; those who are always ordered or driven, and expect
to be so, exercise little control or discernment for themselves.
Manufacturing establishments become a blessing or a curse
according to the facilities which they create for acquiring a living,
to the necessary articles which they provide, and the general
character which they produce. To set up and encourage the
manufacturing of such articles, the use and demand of which
produces no immoral tendency, is one of the best and most moral
uses which can be made of capital. The moral manufacturer,
without the power or disposition to overreach, is in reality a bene-
factor. The acquisition of wealth in this way, is the most laudable.
In point of benevolence and real worth of character, it claims a
decided advantage over the cent per cent, process of accumulation.
15
114 MBMOIR OF SAMUEL 8LATBR.
Some have not the requisite ability to carry on manufiictiiring
establishments ; capital, then, with great propriety is loaned to
those who have. The moral influence of a community is not
promoted by creating or submitting to a manufacturing, or any
other aristocracy, solely in the pursuit of interest, in which selfish-
ness is wont to predominate.
The manufacturing interest, in a flourishing state, naturally
creates power and wealth. The value of labour and the value ci
money are then at his disposal ; but, in this free country, there k
a sufficient counteracting influence to keep up the price of labour
and to equalise the prices of their commodities with the value of
the products of the earth. Without such a resisting power, a few
would abound in wealth and influence, while the multitude would
be in poverty and reduced to servitude. But there always exiats a
counteracting influence in the rival establishments, and the gene-
ral spirit of enterprise. On the supposition that the manufacturing
interest was strictly benevolent and moral, dispensing its favoon
according to merit and precisely as they are needed, the comnm-
nity might not be losers by such a state of things. This nmst be
always the case where a people are lefl free to use and purchase
according to their free choice. With the common experience of
mankind, it could not be expected so. Only a few look bejrcHOKl
their own interest ; when that is provided for, the emplojred who
have assisted in the provision, are left to shift for themselves.
Benevolence is not so general among mankind as to expect it
uniformly. But in the progress of manufactures among us, every
department becomes interested in its prosperity, the operatives
receive a greater emolument for their services than in any other
part of the world, whilst capital receives but a small interest,
compared with other branches of industry. With such a power
estabUshed merely by selfishness, morality is promoted so far and
no further, than interest ; but the promotion of morals becomes
their interest. And if religion appears something in name or in
sectarianism, more than in reality, still its promotion is for the
interest of the whole community. It is said, on the presumption
that the capitalists are aiming at their personal wealth, the facility
for acquiring a fair compensation becomes less and less at every
pressure. A rise of wages is then adapted to convenience or
pleasure. But it must be remembered, that the pressure bears as
heavy on the employer as the employed, and renders him liable to
lose all the earnings of many years of labour, and the savings of
much self denial, and render him poor and dependent. There are
two sides to this question, and the operatives in good times ought
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 116
to lay up for time of need. Then they would not be obliged to
bring their labour into market the best way they can, to obtain
their daily bread. To take advantage of such a position, is one
of the greatest immoralities. The liability of its consequences
are as bad in creating discord and producing civil commotions.
But the owners of factories are not known to stop their mills till
obliged by dire necessity : they generally run them till they become
bankrupt. The real power belongs to the labouring class ; no one
ought to expect to employ this without paying for it, and no one
does expect it. It is power when rightly used, and most often
ceases to be so when abused. Those who are so thoughtless,
negligent, or squandering, as to trust wholly to the present occa-
sion for a bare subsistence, can hardly be thought powerful com-
pared with what they would be did not necessity compel them to
take what they can get for the present occasion. It is a mistaken
notion to suppose the manufacturing interest promoted by creating
poverty, or, in the end, by heavy reduction of wages. The articles
manufactured very soon sink in like proportion, and the profits are
swallowed up in the payment of the operative. Besides these con-
sequences, the ability to purchase does not exist, a consideration
which more or less affects the value of every article brought into
market.
Our day has witnessed the surprising effects of the ingenuity of
man, in calling into existence and putting in operation labour-
saving machinery. If it would be, in reality, promoting human
existence and human happiness in our present character and con-
dition, that our food should come to us ready made, our habita-
tions ready built, our conveyances already in motion, and our
understandings already improved — the nearer we approach such
a state of things the better.
But if not — if the desires and pursuits of objects be no less bless-
ings than their possessions — if human nature be bettered, and the
grand object of existence benefited by employment — there must be
a point beyond which to obtain food and clothing and other things,
without application, would be objectionable. To be moral and
desirable, labour-saving machinery must bring along with it some
particular benefit to the community, as well as to i^lividuals.
This may be such as more than compensates Tor the many
losses which are sustained in some countries, in consequence of
the improvement. When it was proposed to introduce printing
into the Prussian dominions, the king objected by saying, it would
throw forty thousand amanuenses out of employment. After
printing went into operation, to ameliorate the condition of those
116 MEMOIR OP SAMUEL SLATER.
who were thrown out of employment, the Prussian government
made a law that the initial letters should be omitted by the printers,
in order that they might be executed by the amanuensis at a high
compensation. That they per£>rmed these letters with great
ingenuity, and in a manner difficult to be imitated, may be seen
from a copy of a bible now in possession of the antiquarian society
at Worcester, Mass. It must have been a calamity for so many
to be thrown from their pursuits, and be deprived of the means of
getting a livelihood. The benefit resulting from the introduction
compensated for this loss, more than ten-fold. This is one, among
many instances of human invention, which wonderfully adds to
the dignity and happiness of mankind.
The first introduction of Hargreaves' and of Arkwright's ma-
chinery into England, was not only met with objections, but with
popular vengeance. It threatened a speedy destruction to every
jenny and water-frame in England, and so in appearance carried
in its motions frightful evils. The anticipated evils actually hiq>-
pened ; hand spinning met with a speedy overthrow, and those
who had earned a few pence per day in following it, were com-
pelled to resort to other employments, and perhaps to be emploj^
in manufacturing on the new plan which they had laboured to
oppose.
Similar feelings and similar consequences have happened and
are still happening in America. Manufacturing, instead of going
on quietly and single-handed in private fiunilies, with immense
labour, grows into large establishments, which employ and bring
into association, masses of population.
This position is moral or immoral according as it furnishes
proper stimulants for industry and for exertion, and for improving
and directing the mental powers and principles. With little or no
inducements or expectation of emerging from a state of ignorance,
with no schools, no moral or religious instruction, the liability is
great for an introduction of all the evils which the opposers (d
manufacturing establishments have often predicted.
It is well known that vice grows worse by contact with its kind.
If it can be proved that manufacturing establishments tend to ac-
cumulate, consolidate, and perpetuate, vicious propensities, and
their consequences, on the community, this will serve as no incon-
siderable drawback upon the apparent prosperity which is in-
dicated in their inmiediate vicinity. If found so, the condition
must be charged directly to the establishments or to their con-
sequences and abuses. It is evidently an abuse to collect a mass
4)f vicious population, and keep them in a state of ignorance and
MORAL INFLUENCE OF Bf ANUFACTORIB8. 117
irreligion. When this is done, the whole community have a right
to complain. If it can be shown that such things are frequently
done — it is contended that they are not necessary consequences
of manufacturing establishments. The owners of such establish-
ments have it in their power to change the current of vice from
its filthy and oiSfensive channel, and make peace, order, and com-
fort among those they employ.
The dependence between the employed and employers should
be mutual. But by employing vicious, improvident, and indigent
characters, the dependence falls mostly on one side — yet it is a
benefit to the community that such a class should find employ-
ment and support. Though in some countries, oppression ensues,
poverty and vice show their dismal and disorderly features, and
then the honest, upright, and intelligent, are driven from the
establishment, and perhaps from the employment ; better things
can be spoken of this country, where the honest, upright, and in-
telligent, have always a preference. Such are leaving the old
world, they are disappearing, and many of them are in the west,
engaged in other employments. Pursuing such a policy, by and
by, only the dregs are left, and then without looking for the causes,
it appears that factories have been the immediate cause of all the
mischief. On a candid enquiry, it is seen to be the abuse, and
therefore not chargeable to a proper use.
Slater, the founder of the cotton manufacture in America,
abundantly demonstrated, that under right management, they had
no immoral tendency. On the contrary, he made it appear, that
they might be serviceable to the most moral purposes; Following
the plan instituted by Arkwright & Strutt in England, taking the
oversight of the instruction and morals of those he employed, and
instituting and keeping up sabbath schools, he successfully com-
bated the natural tendency of accumulating vice, ignorance and
poverty. Such remedies not only prevented their occurrence, but
had a tendency to remove them^ when they actually existed.
Industry, directed by honest and inteUigent views in moral
pursuits, and honourably rewarded, holds a very high rank among
moral causes. To maintain good order and sound government,
it is more ej£cient than the sword or bayonet. At the anniversary
dinner of the public schools in Boston, the following toast was
given by EkLward Everett — " Education — A better safeguard for
liberty, than a standing army. If we retrench the wages of the
schoolmaster, we must raise the wages of the recruiting sergeant."
So far as manu&cturing establishments have promoted industry,
and fiimished means for an honest livelihood, thus &r they have
118 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATEIU
exerted a salutary inflnence on the character of those who ha^e
been employed. Multitudes of women and children have been
kept out of vice, simply by being employed, and instead of being
destitute, provided with an abundance for a comfortable sub-
sistence.
Those who are furnished with an opportunity, and are trained
up to lay by in store — moderate and r^ular returning means, to
be used at some future day — are invariably superior in point of
character to those who have not. It is not so when means flow
excessive and irregular. Many a youth has been ruined by
beginning with large wages, and having in prospect plraity of
money.
It is believed that there may be found more young men and
women, who have laid up a few hundred dollars, or even a few
thousands, by being employed in manufacturing establishments,
than among those who have followed other employments.
On the score of employment, manufacturing establishments have
done much to support the best interests of society. It appears
also, at the present time, that they have done so by their improve-
ments. On the supposition that one or a few individuals, by the
invention of labour-saving machinery, succeed, so as to furnish
any particular article much cheaper than it could be done in the
ordinary way, in this country where it deprives no one of a living,
and goes to forward and hasten the general improvement, it can-
not fail to be a benefit to the community. The diminution of
price in the articles has been such, that the people have been douUy
paid for all the protection granted ; and commerce has been
benefited by the opening of a foreign market. The fiulures and
fluctuations in the manufacturing establishments have arisen
from their weak and incipient state, and the competition of Euro-
pean fabrics. This cause appears greater than want of manage-
ment and calculation, for the same men have alternately succeeded
and failed on the same ground.
Fluctuations, whatever may be the cause, and whether they re-
late to business, morality, or religion, exert a wide influence on
individual and national character. Those to which we are here
attending, give currency to monstrous species of swindling, and
form a most suitable juncture for unprincipled and unfeeling
knavery to grasp with an unsparing hand, while industry and
honesty are thrown into the back ground, or kicked out of doors.
When such occurrences happen, and the intriguer goes off reward-
ed and applauded, while the honest man is stripped, despised and
n^lected, they give a turn to the whole character of the commu-
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 119
»
nity. The floodin;^ our cities with foreign importations has had
this kind of tendency, and produced those evil effects.
Shrewdness and over-reaching are common events. Morality,
however much respected in principle, is extremely liable to be set
aside in practice. These are some of the bad tendencies of seek-
ing out many useless inventions, and too eager a grasp after traffic
and exchange of property, or what is technically called speculation.
The acquisition and possession of property, are made the main
objects of existence, whether it be needed or not. On the other
hand, it will be granted, that every objection vanishes^ when
mechanical inventions acquire permanency, and can be subjected
to the regularity of calculations. It may dignify and exalt man
to triumph over the known laws of nature, and bring out the
hidden treasures of air, earth, and water, in tame submission to
his use. For aught we can discern, it would have no injurious
effect upon his character, could he extend his journeys and re-
searches further than this globe. One thing is certain, the more
he studies and understands the works of nature and Providence,
the greater will be his admiration of the display and application
of wisdom and goodness. If applied as intended, the more of the
resources which have been provided he brings into action, the
more he adds to his true dignity and happiness.
Contrivances to favour selfish views and selfish ends are com-
mon to the animal creation. The human family are distinguished
from the infinity of being, only by a greater possession and cul-
tivation of moral and intellectual faculties. Unlike the most of
the animal creation, man is left to provide for himself. Strength
and powers are given him, objects are placed before him, and the
strongest conceivable motives presented to use tliis world as not
abusing it.
There must be a limit, beyond which refinement will be ob-
jectionable. When excessive it is a precursor of a relapse in
civilisation.
When wealth and its appearance abound, children are most
often brought up in idleness, and indulged in extravagance. Sup-
posing labour a burden, and retrenchment the ruin of happiness,
they are made Uable to be overtaken by poverty, and with their
last energies and ruined characters to be plunged in real misery.
Individual calamities of this description, as they accumulate,
become national calamities, and foment domestic dissentions.
Suffering pride is all the while meditating revenge. It has nothing
to lose and will endure any thing to regain what it has lost. Ap-
pearances and extravagances are prominent causes of dissentioQ,
1^) MEMOIR OF A^AMUEL SLAT£&.
when a part are rioting, and a pan are sudering. DisdnctioDS of
rank arc introduced. Indirjduals and nations vfao have run into
excesses in r^alrinp ' and Tninntmning snch distmrtionK. sooner or
later, are wont to be cangiii in their ovm snares. Poverty &ek
the burden of degradation when the power is lost to remove it.
In the present happy condiQon of the mann&ctniincr disoicts,
there are no advantages enjoyed by the hch. thai are not reciprocat-
ed with the poor. Labour was never betiei paid, and the labourer
riiore re^K!Ct:ed. ai any period, or in any pan of the world, than
it i£ ai present among us. And thai man is not a mend to the
pcior who endeavours to make those dissaiisned with their preaeot
condition, who cannot hope, by any possibiijiy of circomfOanoea,
to be tietiered bv a change. This is emphaucaLy tkt poor mamM
couMiin;.*
MORAL EFFECTS OF IXTE&KAX IMPROVEMENT.
In all the efforts thai liave hitheno been made for the improve-
ment of thf country, by iiHyui? c*i raij road> and canals,
has Ikh^j made to liieir jibysjcai advaniagt' only. In
recommendations, and iht applicatioL for c-hartcred companies to
construe: these wnrks, the enhanced vaJue o: iancs tiirough which
they pass : ihi- imwrtan:^ n: esULiiiishuic communicauons berwoen
commercial, ciues : the iiiciiiues they aford lor conveyance of pro-
duct u» marke; : tht securing the trade of disian: regions, to the
ports of OUT own states, an* tht prmcipal reasons wincj^ are uigisd
* The TihilanthroTi^s; and iii< T^nliura! ouiiosonn-:: \ril, enauirt. what is
thr phvsira! and mora! r*indi:ior. o' the vas: PonulaiioL rmpi.v-ec iii maon-
fariurf* ? Tht wnrtmer. v.*hr roD>tnj?: rr airrnr iirinr. zV. ihf^t machines
irr uoi 10 hr r.ontouncicL vent, tn^ marinnos iuem<f^"^i'^. or ineir wear and
tear rc^rardcd as l meix- antnnioiica: quc^siior.. Tne^ art mea. reftsonatile.
arrountablt mor : mey art ciuzeiii^ : iitfv cnxisiituu di meaL pan of tbe
>iiT»T>or. anc sirriicrii. o: un sunt : oi. lurr. iiiioiiirviirt auc viriut. or ibeir
ric<»5 and dt^cradaiion. dcnrni^ ir. l ror.>uier;ihii iiioasurt no: oni\ the chs-
raricr of iht p'^von; ai^. bii. o~ pv^simtx : ihti: lUTv'-fs:- art af vaiuabie in
thr rye* of itit moraiii^: a> tii-^t o: uif cia«so> T.*hi otut*' iii^n?" stations,
vei the enqiJirv snouiu bt. no: i." ibr maniiiarTUTinr pnm]iai''>r arr sobiert
to ttic ill> rommoL ir iiumaniT\ . no; i: ihv^ if no: mvri. u nr lamented,
bu; wtia: i> UitMr condiiioL ronii>:irt'u wiil niiiors. ]: i> tht oc>tinv of man
ii carL hi< brraL b\ tht <Wi\i: o' in> hn^^ : luiciit^N. niipr.-viaenr.t. and
dissoiu!t^nt^s>. art t'oinu": ir. on: larp-t »miio>. aiu". art ii.-:\r..i:. •■ lir. narrnt* of
WT^X;-.b:*Jncs- ; tM-iv\ V. jit^ff n;\^Tilt o" al. a^'f^ aiul ror»ii:'.=r* a^i iiabk to
di^ra^f .. id .'l\tiIi. Tht prinrirui! ronsui:>-n:v^n> a^i . iiu .-.^mmand which
thf ^ortinr c.Ja*:^rs ha^t ovpi thr nprr^^sarirei an*: roniTo'k^ o: iiu. their
aealia. taeir inU'iUi^ncc. and uieir morals.
MORAL INFLUENCE OP MANUFACTORIES. 121
upon us why they should be constructed. These indeed are suffi-
cient, if no other could be given, to justify all the expenditures
alresuly made to establish such communications, and many more,
as soon as the country can bear it. But their moral effects on the
community must not be lost sight of by the philanthropist. The
effect of an extensive internal commerce, in as large a country as
this, on morals and the arts, science and literature, as subservient
to morals and religion, are too obvious and important long to
escape the notice of an attentive observer. All experience proves
that good morals never did, and never can exist, among an indo-
lent people, and people who are poor in consequence of their
indolence. " Idleness is the parent of many vices," says an old
proverb, and none more true was ever spoken. But in districts far
from convenient markets, idleness is ineTltable. Never will men
labour in any eipployment if they can avoid it, unless they can
foresee some pecuniary advantages sufficient to reward them for
their pains-taking. On the contrary, they are too apt, for want
of due encouragement to industrious habits, to throw away their
time in worse than useless idleness and dissipation. Whoever has
experienced the difficulties attendant on almost all efforts for thB
moral advancement of a poor and scattered population, without
this encouragement, and compares them with the facilities aflforded
by thriving towns and villages, inhabited and surrounded by an
industrious and happy people, will see at once that whatever tends
to improve the physical condition of man, must, as it renders him
more comfortable, conduce, in no small degree, to the improvement
of his morals ; and that (whatever some may have dreamed other-
wise), in real life, poverty, from want of encouragement to industiy,
is a condition very unfavourable to the practice of virtue. If a
people, under these circumstances, are ever moral in their deport-
ment, no credit is due to their condition for it. Let our legislators
be assured, that while they are extending towards its completion
that system of improvement planned and hitherto carried forward
with so much wisdom, they are putting into operation a moral
machine which, in proportion as it facilitates a constant and rapid
communication between all parts of our land, tends most effec-
tually to perfect the civilisation, and elevate the moral character,
of the people.
The general amelioration in the moral condition of conmiuni-
ties, by the healthful encouragement of internal industry, and by
affording proper aids to the development of national resources, is
well worthy of the serious attention of legislators. An idle popu-
lation is ever vicious and degraded ; and perhaps the perpetuity
16
122 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
of free institutions and with them a sound state of public morals,
cannot exist among a people whose energies are not kept con-
stantly in play by the pursuit of some incessant productiv^e employ-
ment. LfCt us look at the contrast given in the following sketch
by a North American resident in South America: —
'^ It is impossible to look at the present state of our neighbour-
ing republics without a mingled feeUng of pity for the weakness,
and of contempt for the inefficiency, of their governments. The
first out-breaking of the revolution there was hailed by the people
of this country with enthusiastic joy, as the grand step towards
the formation of other governments equally happy with our own;
because based upon like principles, and aspiring to like ends. The
success of their undertaking we confidently predicted, for, for them
it was not reserved to try the first grand experiment, — that trial
had been ours ; and when the potentates of Europe, following our
example, had come forward and acknowledged the independence
of those republics, we felt that we, as a nation, were not alone, —
that another, as promising, had risen up to prove the practicability
of a new and a distrusted form of government ; — we felt that a new
light had dawned upon the hitherto benighted half of the great
western world, which was to guide them to freedom and happi-
ness, and we exulted in the prospect of the noble contrast about to
be presented to the tyranny and despotism of the East. But the
day-star of their liberty was the brightest at its dawn. Instead of
increasing in splendour as it rose, its rays beamed fainter and
fainter, till at length, it is now almost totally obscured in the mists
of error, discord, and confusion.
" And we are naturally led to enquire, in view of these facts,
into the cause of this. We are at a loss to account for this lament-
able failure of reaching that high stand which the world was led
to believe the new republics would take, — we compare their first
efibrts with ours, and we find them equal ; indeed, more than
equal. While ours were furthered and sustained by petition and
remonstrance, and partook more of the character of mild persua-
sion than of determined opposition, ihtir first efibrts were accom-
panied with the heat and the fury of sanguinary confiict ; and
their hopes of redress were founded solely on the extermination of
their oppressors.
"How sad is the prospect which, to-day, is presented to our
view, in sight of all the nobleness of enterprise and undertaking
which characterised the first efibrts of our sister republics ! There
can be no hope of their stability, under their present forms of govern-
ment. The people have shown themselves unequal to the task of
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 123
supporting it ; they do not understand, neither can they practise
upon, the principles of |elf-government. And the grand secret ot
all this inability lies in the universal propensity of the people to
indolence, in their want of enterprise, and in the listlessness which
must infiillibly spring from such propensity. All the better feel-
ings of that people were called into action in the moment of rebel-
lion ; they were kept alive and nurtured by a constant series ot
almost unhoped for successes in the grand struggle ; and, at such
a time, the men who weighed the most in the scale of popularity,
and who were looked up to, by the lower orders, with reverence
and respect, were military men, — men who had risen by their
valour, or their patriotism, or their zeal in the common cause, to a
comparatively high and dignified station. While the struggle lasted,
there was no want of energy, or stability, or perseverance among
them ; the confusion and turmoil of the revolutionary era seemed
admirably calculated to give to each and every man an opportu-
nity to display himself in the sphere peculiarly adapted to his
powers; and thus all were occupied and satisfied.
'^ But the contention at last ceased, and the time came when it
was found necessary to re-organise the government, and establish
it upon the principles for which they had fought. With that
moment commenced the troubles and internal divisons which have
since brought the country to the verge of ruin. Intriguing and
ambitious men had grown up in the midst of them, — hundreds of
young officers, whose education had been purely military, and
whose views and ambitions were limited to one point, were stopped
short in their career, and left, without a single resource in them-
selves, to plot and plan the means of their own advancement in the
sphere of action to which they had so fondly looked forward, and
for which they believed themselves solely fitted. Among the more
advanced in age and acquirements, — those who had taken a more
immediate and active part in the strife just finished, — ^patriotism,
love of country, zeal in the advancement of the national interests,
all were buried and forgotten in the all-absorbing consideration of
how they might secure to themselves, against the pretensions of
the less ^perienced, those temporary advantages and emoluments
of station which were theirs at the close of the revolution.
'^ Agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and domestic industry,
although never much attended to, were now less thought of than
ever. They depended entirely upon Europe and North America
for the ordinary supplies of the most essential necessaries of life.
With a soil the most fertile, and an extent of country sufficient to
furnish a supply to half the world, they are still dependent upon
124 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
North America for the flour they consume. With their prairies
teeming with millions of cattle, they are still dependent, in a great
measure, upon foreign countries for their butter and cheese. The
mechanic and higher arts are attended to almost exclusively by
foreigners ; indeed, wherever energy, or enterprise, or industry, is
requisite, the native plays but a poor part in competition with the
foreigner. This can be easily accounted for : in the first place
by their excessive indolence, and in the second by a sort of heredi-
tary pride and loftiness of feeling, which will not sufier them to
follow any acknowledged trade or occupation ; and which feeling,
so far from rendering them superior, either in attainments or
appearance, places them actually £ir below the ordinary standaid
of mediocrity. Many or most of their young men are living, and
must continue to live, upon the scanty resources of their impover-
ished parents, some of whom, from a state of high affluence, have
been reduced to comparative poverty by the destructive internal
dissensions, which have laid waste and ravaged the country, and
shaken, to their basis, her institutions since the revolution.
" How striking the contrast that our own land, or at least New
England, presents ! Where, among us, is found the youth, affluent
or not, high-bred or low, who acknowledges neither occupation
or profession ? It is, among us, as deep a stigma as exists, that
cast upon him who neglects to adopt some means of rendering his
natural faculties subservient to one grand end of our being — that
of usefulness and assistance to our fellow-men, — and who refuses
to occupy that station among them to which he seems called by
the particular circumstances and wants of tiic age, and for which
his Creator has fully endowed him, with peculiar faculties and
advantages.
" What a striking difference do we perceive in the morals, the
feelings, and the habits, of the two people ! While the billiard-
rooms and the gaming-houses of the one are overflowing with the
flower of her young men, and fitting them for any thing save for
the performance of their duty in the approaching struggle of life,
the workshops and colleges of the other are giving birth to men
who are to supply the places and walk in the paths their fathers
trod, — who are to further the interests and contribute to the re-
spectability and importance of the nation, — young men who are
eminently fitted to enlarge upon and improve the present system
of things, — to give force and influence to the virtues, and reform
the abuses of those who have gone before them.
" National grandeur and elevation of standing are founded, we
may say solely, on the industry and enterprise of the people. The
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 125
wealth and power of a nation have their existence in them, and
the hopes of a nation's prosperity, advancement, and continuance,
are, and can be, founded on nothing else. How all-important,
then, in view of this, is that great branch of national industry, its
manufactures ! How evident is the fact that, without them, the
noble &bric of our national hopes, and happiness, and freedom,
would want, perhaps, the most efficient pillar of its support ! The
contrast that exists between the moral condition of our own coun-
try and that of the South American republics, is too striking to
fail of attracting the attention of any one at all conversant with
the facts of the case ; and we have dwelt thus far on the subject,
from the consideration, that thus might be afforded a fresh proof
of the superiority, in every point of view, of a nation whose prin-
cipal resources are in the industry, energy, and enterprise of its
people."
DOCUMENTARY TESTIMONY ON THE MORAL INFLUENCE OF
MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS IN NEW ENGLAND.
The following circular was addressed to several heads of manu-
facturing establishments : —
1. Are there any laws existing in the New England states by which the
manufacturers of cotton and wool are prevented from the too constant
employment of children ? Or from the employment of those of too tender
age ? Would not such laws prove very salutary ?
2. How old are the youngest children usually employed ? Are children
under fifteen years of age often deprived of opportunities of schooling, by
unremitted employment in cotton or woollen factories ?
3. Are there not many cotton establishments in which no children under
fifteen years are employed ? And is this the case with woollen establish-
ments ?
4. Are there not many establishments where the proprietors have adopted
a regulation, by which children are allowed to work only a portion of the
time, with a view that opportunity for schooling may be enjoyed by them ?
And to what age does this regulation apply ?
5. What is the probable proportion of children under fifteen years, to those
over fifteen, and adults, employed in cotton factories ? What is the propor-
tion in woollen ?
6. Are there any factories in New England in which the proprietors em-
ploy one set of hands by day and another during the night ?
7. How many hours are the operatives employed? Please to specify
them. Is there an entire conformity in all the factories ?
S. Do the females employed generally live with their parents, or at
boarding-houses ? And what are the disadvantages attending the system of
boarding houses? Are they well regulated, or too large to admit of careful
supervision ?
9. Are instances of immorality in consequence of the employment of both
sexes together, frequent, or otherwise ?
126 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
10. Do the females employed in these factories generally lay up their
earnings, or spend the amount in dress? Are savings banks used by the
operatives for depositing their surplus gains?
11. Are first-day or Sunday schools generally established in manufacturing
villages, and attended by the children ?
12. Are there auxiliary tract societies established generally in these
villages, for the purpose of disseminating, at a cheap rate, the excellent
moral and religious publications of the American Tract Society ? Could
not individuals undertake so laudable a work singly ?
13. Is it supposed that those persons employed in cotton and woollen
manufactories are equally healthy with such as pursue agriculture? If so,
can you mention any facts in corroboration?
14. What proportion of the operatives accumulate property? and what
classes are generally improvident ? Do you not suppose that some of the
families who find employment in factories, would, if it were not for such
employment, be chargeable to town as paupers?
15. Will you enumerate some of the most striking advantages which have
resulted to your town or neighbourhood, by the introduction of manufac-
tures ? And also name the prominent disadvantages, if any.
16. What remedies would you propose for those evils which do exist?
17. Do you know of any cotton or woollen factories in which any improved
system, or any peculiarly beneficial management, prevails ? And will you
specify the establishment and give a sketch of its regulations?
18. Are there existing in some manufacturing villages, libraries of useful
books which circulate among the operatives ?
19. Do you consider the mass of the manufacturing population, equally
well educated and intelligent as the mass of agriculturists ?
20. Do you know of many instances where families who were in poverty
have by their successful industry in the manufactories, made themselves
independent ? And have you often witnessed the effect of such success in
improving their habits and general characters ?
21. Is it not the practice in many of the manufacturing villages, for the
head of such families as are employed in the mills, to cultivate a small lot
of ground, to raise com, potatoes, and garden vegetables generally and
to keep a cow? And is not this productive of much comfort to such
families ?
From Smith Wilkinson, Esq., Pomfret, Conn. to. the author,
" You ask my opinion as to the tendency of manufacturing establishments
on the morals of the people. I answer, that my settled opinion is that the
natural or consequent influence of all well conducted establishments, is
favourable to the promotion of good morals, for the following reasons: —
The helps are required to labour all the time, which people can sustain in
regular service through the year, consistent with what is necessary to attend
to their personal wants, — for meals, sleep and necessary relaxation, and a
proper observance of the sabbath. The usual working hours, being twelve,
exclusive of meals, six days in the week, — the workmen and children being
thus employed, have no time to spend in idleness or vicious amusements.
In our village there is not a public house or grog-shop, nor is gaming allowed
in any private house, if known by the agent, and very few instances have
MORAL INFUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 127
occarred in twenty-nine years, to my knowledge. In collecting oar help,
we are obliged to employ poor families, and generally those having the
greatest number of children, those who have lived in retired situations on
small and poor farms, or in hired houses, where their only means of living
has been the labour of the father and the earnings of the mother, while the
children spent their time mostly at play. These families are often very
ignorant, and too often vicious ; but being brought together into a compact
village, often into the families, and placed under the restraining influence of
example, must conform to the habits and customs of their neighbours, or be
despitled and neglected by them. Thus it happens sometimes that when it
becomes generally known that a family are noted for any vice, they are
neglected by the rest, and no person, male or female, will visit or be seen
keeping company with them, who is at all concerned to sustain a good name*
Another reason is, by being in a way to earn the means, they almost inva-
riably clothe better ; and it is a fact of common notoriety, that the females
employed in factories clothe better or more expensively than others in similar
circumstances as to property, or even than the daughters of our respectable
farmers. But this disposition to dress extravagantly soon abates, and the
helps contract habits of economy, and lay up their wages by loaning the
money at interest.
" I have known a great many, who have laid aside $200 to $300, in from
three to four years, and were enabled to fit themselves out decently, when
married, for housekeepers. Others, who remained single, laid by four, five,
and some seven and eight hundred dollars, and now have it out on interest.
As public opinion goes far in regulating the moral habits and behaviour of
cities and towns, so it does in manufacturing villages, — by this influence, it
is an established fact, that if a female is introduced into a factory of bad or
loose character, she must be discharged as soon as her character is fully
known, or the rest of the female help will quit the mill. Perhaps I cannot
furnish better proof of the practical tendency and efi*ect on female character,
than to state, that in twenty-nine years, during which term I have had the
sole agency of Pomfret cotton manufacturing establishment, I can assert that
but two cases of seduction and bastardy have occurred. One of these was
by means which have often proved fatal — where the object was placed in
the most disadvantageous circumstances to withstand them.
" The company of the Pomfret establishment, was formed, January 1st,
1806, consisting of, — James Rhodes, Esq., Christie Rhodes, Wm. Rhodes,
brothers, all of Pawtucket, R. I. ; Oziel Wilkinson, and sons-in-law ; Timo-
thy Green, Wm. Wilkinson, of Providence; Abraham Wilkinson, Isaac
Wilkinson, David Wilkinson, Daniel Wilkinson, Smith Wilkinson, all of
Pawtucket or North Providence, five sons of Oziel Wilkinson.
'^ The capital stock invested from April 1st, 1806, to Ocfx>ber 1808, was sixty
thousand dollars— of which, five twelfths was invested in real estate — it was
then known by the name of Conger's mills, in Pomfret, Connecticut, on the
Q^uinebaug river, and includes about one thousand acres of land, lying partly
in three adjoining towns, namely, Pomfret, Thomson, and Killingly. There
was at this time on said lands, a grist mill, saw mill, and blacksmith's shop;
two houses, an old gin distillery, then just abandoned ; three houses, and
some other small buildings of little value. A leading object of this company
in buying so^much land, was to prevent the introdaction of taverns and grog
128 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
shops, with their usually corrupting, demoralisiug tendency. Another object
was, to be able to give the men employ on the lands, while the cbildrea
were employed in the factory. The company very early exerted their in-
fluence in establishing schools, and introducing public worship on the sab-
bath. In 1812, they erected a convenient brick building, to answer as a
school house, and a place for holding meeting^ ; which is now occupied for
those purposes, and has been ever since its first erection."
M B , Esq.
Troy, Dec. 26, 1827.
Dear Sir — I fear I have neglected too long to answer your interesting en*
quiries on the subjects of manufacturing and manufactories ; but will now
make the attempt, though on several points I have not been enabled to collect
the information required. Supposing that you have a copy of the several
questions, I will answer them in the order they are put, without repeating
them. — (See page 125.)
1. I know of no such restrictive laws in the northern or eastern states, nor
can I see any occasion for them. Public opinion, with the independent feel-
ings of the parents and guardians of children, would prevent such abuse
should it be attempted ; but I never heard of such a practice in our country
among manufacturers. Young children are unprofitable in almost every
branch of our labour, and so much so, that it is the practice to keep them oat
of factories as long as the importunities of parents can be resisted.
2. Children under ten years are generally unprofitable at any price, and
it is very seldom they are employed, unless their parents work in the mill,
and they are brought in to do light chores, or some very light work, such as
setting spools in the frame, or piecing^ rolls. As far as I am acquainted,
there is more attention paid to schooling children in manufacturing villages,
than in districts of other employments.
3. I do not know of any works where the age is positively limited, nor do
I think that it could well be done. There are many boys at fourteen years,
who are able, in most employments, to do the work of men ; they only want
the skill. The heavy work is mostly done by machinery ; and there are
many girls at fourteen years who are as steady and discreet, as others at
sixteen or over. I have no doubt that it would be more profitable to employ
young women in our factories generally, except for overseers, if they could
be obtained.
4. I do not know of any thing exactly in that shape ; it is not consistent
with the operations of a mill, that any part of the help should leave their
place to spend certain hours in school ; but the child is refused employment
until it has had its necessary schooling.
5. I have never heard fifteen years referred to, as an age below which em-
ployment would be wrong or unprofitable. I should say the proportion might
be 10 per cent. There is less young help employed in the woollen than in
the cotton manufactures.
6. I never heard of such an instance in our country, though I believe there
are those who practise and pursue such a system in England. I do not think
it would be tolerated here : public opinion would not sufier it, nor could
workmen be procured.
7. An average through the year of twelve hours, is every where under-
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 129
Stood as factory hours ; this is by common consent, nor have I heard of any
attempt to increase the number, as a rul^ of employment.
8. It is customary, in commencing a manufacturing village, to build a
boarding-house to begin with : and this is necessary from the nature of the
case in most instances ; but as soon as families are brought in, the help em-
ployed is generally distributed. The custom in most places is, to allow and
require every hand to provide for themselves. This is found more satisfactory
and best ; in this way the price of board is regulated by competition, and
labourers choose their associates, and the females in this distribution in
families are belter protected, and more pleasantly situated.
9. As far as I am acquainted, unfrequent beyond the expectations of any
one.
10. There is a disposition to dress among the unmarried females, though
many do lay up something, and many help their parents in supporting the
younger members of a family. Our factory villages have many widows,
who resort there to bring up their families, and are thus enabled to keep them
together, and provide for them very comfortably ; and here the young women
are the stay and support of their mothers, while they receive counsel and
protection.
11. Sabbath schools are common to a considerable extent, and are becom-
ing more so in manufacturing villages.
12. In many villages there are tract societies, where from funds of their
own, they purchase of the larger institutions, and in others there are auxiliary
societies. Something is done, and much more might be done.
13. I have no doubt of the healthiness of the employment. I have been
engaged in a cotton factory since 1S13, and have employed from sixty to
one hundred hands, men, women and children, and do not believe there is a
more healthy village any where to be found ; and can speak confidently in
saying that the farmers in the immediate neighbourhood are not more hardy,
nor do I believe they can undergo the same fatigue, because not so accustom-
ed to such constant and regular labour.
14. I cannot say how far they accumulate property ; I know that many
do, and very many live comfortably and independently, who but for such
employment would be paupers. Many families begin in debt and embarrass-
ment, who soon pay their debts, and support their families, and gain property
aAerwards.
15. This would be to write a volume. The property in the neighbourhood
is greatly advanced. It is quite a market for vegetables, fruits, meats, to the
farmers around. Industry, education, and morals, are greatly improved.
The farmers and mechanics look for the money paid out at the factory store
as an unfailing resource for their circulating medium ; and depend on fur-
nishing their necessaries, as a sure means of getting money. I not know of,
nor can I conceive of, any disadvantages. Our manufactures have greatly
increased the commerce of our city, in bringing the raw material and dis-
tributing the articles manufactured, and furnish a large market for the pro-
duct of the farmer. I paid for the last four months $758.63 for the single
article of jBour for our families.
16. I know of no evils which exist in manufacturing villages as such,
which are not increased, and more or less aggravated in other villages, or
17
130 MEMOIR OP SAMUEL SLATEB.
which are not to be foand in eveiy soeiety. I think any eril it euier re-
medied in such places than in different society.
17. I will gire you our regulations at the close in general terms.
18. I am not acquainted with any where libraries are established, but have
no doubt it would be beneficial.
19. I consider them decidedly bettei educated, more intelligent, of better
cultivated manners, higher notions of character, more enterprise, and every
way more improved citizens, than the mass of agriculturists. When the
latter change to the former there is generally a marked improvement, and
when the former to the latter, a deterioration and running down.
30. I do know of many instances where those quite poor have, by their in-
dustry and economy, become comparatively independent, and the character
of the whole family changed for the better.
21. There are many whose families work in the factories, when the man
takes a piece of land on shares, and raises corn and potatoes ; but this is m
more common practice in the New England states, than with us. When the
man cannot be employed to advantage, this may do well, but the leisure hours
such an one would have, would be a bad example for the factoiy hands, and
I would prefer giving constant employment at some sacrifice, to having a man
of the village seen in the streets or shops on a rainy day at leisure.
M B , Esq.
Troy, Dec. 27, 1827.
Respected Friend — I said, in answering your 17th query, that I would give
you our general regulations in our manufacturing establishmenu In 1818,
five individuals, one of whom was myself, built the establishment which I
think you visited with me when at Troy. We were all ignorant of cor
undertaking, but had very great expectations from what we had been told. I
had the principal agency in erecting the buildings, and procuring machinery
diDC. — but we had one partner who was superintendent, and who professed
much, but knew very little. We commenced work in the spring of 1819^
but every thing went bad, and we found our superintendent a man of loose,
bad notions, bad principles, and he had brought together a bad set of work-
men. We dismissed him, and after some time persuaded my brother to
come and take charge of it. He was a merchant, and knew nothing of the
manufacturing business. Things still went bad ; the workmen were de-
ceivers, and my brother had a difficult place to fill ; but we dragged along
until the peace, and found ourselves very much in debt, and embarrassed,
and stopped our works in the fall of 1816. Thus the works remained until
the spring of 1817. I then bought eight of the ten shares in which the fac-
tory was owned. We had kept a store of groceries, and sold rum to our
hands as freely as they required. I have never brought any spirituous liquors
to our village since — the hands were all poor and most of them in debt. I
bought cotton in April, and started the mill — the hands that chose to stay,
and were willing to live without the use of ardent spirits, I kept, and divided
their debts into small sums, which they agreed to deduct from their wages
weekly — their rents were all payable weekly, that no debts might be suffered
to accumulate against the hands, and no one was to ask or expect credit,
unless at the beginning of a week, when they could anticipate half the
wages of the week if necessary. If they could not live under these regula-
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 131
tions, they were at liberty to go ; but if they stayed, their old debts must be
paid, they must live without spirits, and they were not at liberty to get in
debt any where — no liquors could be brought into any workshop under any
pretence whatever. Thus I began, now nepirly eleven years ago ; many of
the families are now with me, or those that were young men and girls are
now married and have families ; they were all poor without exception. I
will mention the condition of some of the hands — one young man, an ap-
prentice in the machine shop, is now out of my employ as a steady hand, but
does job work for me — he has a large family, but owns a good house, hat
considerable money at interest, has two buildings for rent, is worth three
thousand dollars. Another has two thousand dollars at interest. Another
has bought him 100 acres of good land, owns a house in the village, and has
money at interest. Another has $1000 at interest — several others have three
or four hundred dollars beforehand. Families all above board, with one
or two exceptions ; we keep a district school the year round, with a com-
petent man teacher — through the season of working in nights, a school goes
in at eight o'clock, and out at ten o'clock, which all the young men and
women calculate to attend — ^here are taught writing, arithmetic, and gram-
mar, geography, and history — this is very much encouraged and is a very
popular school ; we have a very prosperous Sunday school ; there is a small
house for worship in the village, and one a mile east, and many come into
Troy to meeting, it being only about two miles. In order to keep out tippling
and grog shops, I have a clause inserted in all the leases given for building
lots, that any one selling ardent spirits on the same, forfeits the premises.
A large proportion of our families are hopefully pious, have family prayers
daily, and are members of churches in good standing, and a majority of our
young people belonging to the cotton factory are professors of religion.
Since 1815, there have been three revivals of religion. We have there a
bible society, tract society, and domestic missionary society. There are a
large number of newspapers taken, and some reviews and quarterlies : and
I think a state of society which would be gratifying to the patriot and phi-
lanthropist — and the Christian. We have all our hands by the year, which
commences on the first of May. We inventory every March, and then en-
gage our help for the year. We seldom have any hands leave us, that we
wish to retain. Our young people marry and settle in the same village in
many instances. Our contracts are to pay as fast as the individual or family
need to live upon, and the balance at the end of the year. To those who will
let their balances remain in book we pay interest, but will not give notes,
because the advisory influence is in some measure lost if you give notes
which can be negotiated ; but on our plan, our books become a savings' bank
for the hands. If they want a note we pay the balance. We have over
five hundred inhabitants, and in 1812 the ground was cleared where our vil-
lage now stands. Our establishment is very small compared with many of
the eastern works, and our buildings and machinery are not after the modem
improvements, but we cannoc afibrd to throw them by. We have built a
very firm excellent building for the woollen business, and have it well filled
with the best machinery that could be procured, and have commenced
operation, but it will take time to get such a set of hands as we have at the
cotton mill ; yet I see no difficulty. The wool business requires more man
labour, and this we study to avoid. Women are much more ready to follow
132 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
good regulations, and are not captious, and do not clan as the men do
against their overseers ; but I can afford to give a religious man or woman
higher wages, than I can one who has no fixed principles of action and
government for themselves. It should be the first object of our manufactur-
ing establishments, to have their superintendents, and overseers, and agents,
men of religious principles, and let it be felt by the owners that it is always
for their interest to support religion, schools, and all those institutions which
promote good morals, and difiuse information among the operatives and their
families. I feel confident that we have made a sufficient experiment, in the
manufacturing business, to see its effect upon those employed and the state
of society which it produces, and the influence it has upon a neighbourhood
of farmers, and others in the district round about, and have no hesitation in
saying, that in every particular it is favourable. It grows up a healthy
population, is favourable to early schooling and good education, and early
habits of industry ; stimulants to enterprise, economy, and frugality in
living, and saving the products of their labour — and at the same time the
organisation of these establishments in villages, being necessary for their
success, they are placed in a more favourable situation for the cultivation of
moral and religious character, without which, civilised man is still a savage,
and a very limited degree of human happiness attained.
I am, respectfully, your friend and obedient servant,
Jedediah Tbaoy.
The following remarks are from a correspondent who has paid
attention to this subject, and who sincerely wishes well to every
branch of useful industry which shall benefit the country : —
'' I noted that the legislature of Massachusetts instituted an
enquiry some nine or ten years ago, to ascertain the moral influ-
ence of manufacturing establishments, which resulted in a favour-
able report — ^never published.
" In pursuing thy enquiries upon this deeply interesting subject,
I sincerely hope thou wilt state the whole case fairly, so that those
points where danger is to be apprehended may be seasonably
guarded by the conservators of public morals. The employment
of young children of too tender age, should be freely and warmly
discouraged; and if at the present moment there should appear to
be any increase of this evil, our legislatures should timely adopt
such wise and prudent measures as would cure the evil. No
patriot could advocate the extension of any branch of national
industry which would necessarily bring along with it an ignorant
and consequently vicious population.
" We find many men of philanthropic minds who view with
alarm the rapid extension in our country of manufacturing indus-
try, under a conviction that it stands opposed to the progress of
religion and sound morals — in a word that it is essentially repug-
nant to the general well being of the community ; nor is this
MORAL) INFUENCE OF MANUFACTQRfES. 133
surprising, since those whose interests stand opposed to the
increase of manufactures on a large scale, have long and vehe-
mently insisted upon its demoralising tendency. A great deal
has been said about the sad change this mischievous system has
produced among our neighbours of the eastern states — it has
been described as a Pandora's box that has filled^the land with all
sorts of moral plagues. It must be obvious that the subject has
been presented to us through a medium somewhat distorted by
wrong prejudices, and even the interesting colunms of ' The
Friend' may have contributed to strengthen these prejudices by
the revival of the somewhat trite sentimentality of Goldsmith and
Southey — I allude to an article in the second number. I am,
however, as little disposed to call in question the motives of our
philanthropists in opposing the manufacturing system, a^s I am to
extenuate or defraud any abuses to which it is liable. That abuses
do exist, even in this country, I am well aware, and I would be
the last person to discourage any well directed effort to remdy
them.
<< It is certainly an interesting enquiry, whether, as manufac-
tures have advanced in our country, the general character of the
operative classes has deteriorated ? Have these occupations had
an unfavourable influence upon the intelligence, the morals* or the
health, of those engaged in them ?
* With reference to this poiot, we have great satisfaotion in adducing the
following conclusive testimony : —
WATERFORn, R. I. May 23d, 1835.
Dear Sir, — In reply to yours of 7th inst. will observe, that many persons
can give you better views than I can, respecting the condition of the cotton
manufacture business in its various stages and fluctuations, since its esta-
blishment in this country, and the effect of the tariff laws upon it. Our busi-
ness has always been seven eighths woollen, and is now exclusively so. We
have a woollen mill, eighty feet by thirty-six, and one, three hundred and
fifty feet by fifty, both five stories high ; for broadcloth principally.
As regards the effects of manufacturing villages on the morals of the peo-
ple, there can be but one opinion among those who know any thing about
the subject. They certainly tend very powerfully to the improvement of
morals. In our village, with a population of three hundred to four hundred,
not an intemperate person lives. Nearly one hundred females are in the
village, and since its establishment, a term of ten years, not a case of ille-
gitimacy has occurred, nor has a rumour of such a nature ever been in the
village. No person who has ever resided in the village, has ever become
chargeable to the town in any manner. On the first of April last, the people
who work in our mills had $10,000 due to them in cash. We have an
excellent free school through the year, of about fifty scholars. Yours truly.
Welcome Farhum.
134 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
'' Having had access to authentic information upon this subject,
I answer as follows : —
<< The cotton manufiEicture may now be considered permanently
established ; it is prosperous and rapidly increasing in the New
England states, which must remain, as they are at this time, the
principal seat of It. For the present, my remarks will be confined
to this branch of manufactures.
<< A great change has taken place within the last few years, in
regard to the proportion of children employed in these &ctories ;
the proprietors having found that their interest is promoted by
dispensing almost entirely with the labour of children under
fifteen years.
<< In the &ctories at Newmarket, N. H., which have been in
operation about four years, there are employed, 250 girls, five
boys and twenty overseers and assistants — twelve of the overseen
have families. Nine only of the girls are under fifteen years of
age, six of whom are fourteen. Three of the boys are under
fifteen, two of whom are fourteen. In every instance the children
under fifteen reside with ^heir parents or guardians in the village,
and are admitted into the factories on account of the peculiar cir-
cumstances of the families ; they are allowed to work only six
months in the year — during the other six months, they attend a
public school in the village. Besides the operatives mentioned,
there are thirty machinists, twenty of whom have families ; these,
however, are employed in a separate workshop. The relative
number of children employed in this establishment, it is believed,
will correspond, without much variation, with the proportion to be
found in most of the factories east of Providence and its vicinity;
in the latter district, the manufactories were established at an
earlier period, and still give employment to a larger proportion of
children.
" In cases of newly formed villages, it is found necessary to
erect at the commencement several boarding-houses, sufficiently
spacious to accommodate a large number of the workpeople in
each ; to this arrangement there are powerful objections. At
Newmarket it has been entirely abandoned, and is superseded by
the increased number of private families, which have taken up
their residence in the village ; and not being inconveniently large,
are kept under good regulation. A part of the girls whose parents
do not live in the village, are distributed as boarders with those
families which are disposed to receive them.
''Nearly all of the manufacturing villages are small, and there
is very generally attached to each dwelling a lot of ground, which
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 135
is appropriated to the culture of garden vegetables, and food for a
cow and swine ; these are considered very essential comforts, and
are rarely dispensed with by the industrious operatives.
" It should be borne in mind, that in this country water-power
is almost exclusively used in manufactures, and, on account of its
greater cheapness, the day must be far distant indeed, when steam
power will be extensively used ; the consequence is, that the manu-
fiicturing population must be scattered. We can have no Man-
chesters on this side the Atlantic, while our thousand rivers and
streams afford an inexhaustible supply of unimproved powpr."
Dr. Ure says : — " The present is distinguished from every pre-
ceding age by an universal ardour of enterprise in arts and manu-
fitctures. Nations, convinced at length, that war is always a
losing game, have converted their swords and muskets into factory
implements, and now contend with each other in the bloodless,
but still formidable, strife of trade. They no longer send troops
to fight on distant fields, but fabrics to drive before them those of
their old adversaries in arms, and to take possession of a foreign
mart. To impair the resources of a rival at home, by underselling
his wares abroad, is the new belligerent system, in pursuance
of which every nerve and sinew of the people are put upon the
strain.^ Dr. Ure continues in another place : —
'' Gieat Britain may certainly continue to uphold her envied supremacy,
sustained by her coal, iron, capital, and skill, if, acting on the Baconian
axiom, 'knowledge is power,' she shall dilligently promote moral and pro-
fessional culture among all ranks of her productive population. Were the
principles of the manufactures exactly analysed, and expounded in a simple
manner, they would diffuse a steady light to conduct the masters, managers,
and operatives, in the straight paths of improvement, and prevent them from
pursuing such dangerous phantoms as flit along in the monthly patent-lists.
Each department of our useful arts stands in need of a guide-book to facili-
tate its study, to indicate its imperfections, and to suggest the most probable
means of correcting them. It is known that the manufactures of France
have derived great advantage from the illustrated systems of instruction
published under the auspices of its government and patriotic societies. Manu-
facture is a word which, in the vicissitude of language, has come to signify
the reverse of its intrinsic meaning : for it now denotes every extensive
product of art, which is made by machinery, with little or no aid of the
human hand ; so that the most perfect manufacture is that which dispenses
entirely with manual labour. The philosophy of manufactures is to modify
the texture, form, or composition of natural objects by mechanical or chemi-
cal forces, acting either separately, combined, or in succession.
'^ The blessings which physioo-mechanical science has bestowed on
society, and the means it has still in store for ameliorating the lot of man-
kind, hare been too littte dwelt upon ; while on the other hand, it has been
136 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
accused of lending itself to rich capitalists, as an instrument for harassing
the poor, and of exacting from the operative an accelerated rate of work. It
has been said, for example, that the steam-engine now drives the power-
looms with such velocity as to urge on their attendant weavers at the same
rapid pace. But the truth is, that every member of the loom is so adjusted,
that the driving force leaves the attendant little to do, certainly no muscolar
fatigue to sustain, while it procures for him good, unfailing wages.
" The constant aim and effect of scientific improvement in manufactures
are philanthropic ; as they tend to relieve the workman, either from niceties
of.adjustment, which exhaust his mind and fatigue his eyes, or from painful
repetition of effort, which distort or wear out his frame. At every step of
each manufacturing process, the humanity of science will be manifest.
'' The title of factory, in its strictest sense, involves the idea of an opera-
tion composed of various mechanical and intellectual organs, acting in unin-
terrupted concert for the production of a common object, — all of them being
subordinated to a self-regulated moving force.
"In its precise acceptation, the factory system is of recent origin, and
may claim England for its birth-place. The mills for throwing silk, or
making organzine, which were mounted centuries ago, in several of the
Italian states, and transferred to England, by Sir Thomas Lombe, in 1718,
contained indeed some elements of a factory , and probably suggested some
hints of those grander and more complex combinations of self-acting
machines, which were first embodied, half a century later, in the cotton
manufacture, by Richard Arkwright, assisted by gentlemen of Derby, well
acquainted with its celebrated silk establishment. But the spinning of an
entangled flock of fibres into a smooth thread, which constitutes the main
operation with cotton, is, in silk, superfluous ; being already performed by
the unerring instinct of a worm, which leaves to human art the simple task
of doubling and twisting its regular filainents. The apparatus requisite for
this purpose is more elementary, and calls for few of those gradations of
machinery which are needed in the carding, drawing, roving, and spinning
processes of a cotton mill. When the first water-frames, for spinning cot-
ton, were erected at Cromford, in the romantic valley of the Derwent, about
sixty years ago, mankind were little aware of the mighty revolution which
the new system of labour was destined by Providence to achieve* not only
in the structure of British society, but in the fortunes of the world at large.
Arkwright alone had the sagacity to discern, and the boldness to predict, in
glowing language, how vastly productive human industry would become,
when no longer proportioned in its results to muscular effort, which is by its
nature fitful and capricious, but when made to consist in the task of guiding
the work of mechanical fingers and arms, regularly impelled, with great ve-
locity, by some indefatigable physical power. What his judgment so clearly
led him to perceive, his energy of will enabled him to realise with such
rapidity and success, as would have done honour to the most influential
individuals, but were truly wonderful in that obscure and indigent artisan.
The main difficulty did not, to my apprehension, lie so much in the inven-
tion of a proper self-acting mechanism, for drawing out and twisting cotton
into a continuous thread, as in the distribution of the different members of
the apparatus into one co-operative body, in impelling each organ with its
appropriate delicacy and speed, and above all, in training human beings to
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 137
Tenoance their desaltory habits of work, and to identify themselves with the
unvarying regularity of the complex automaton. To devise and administer
a successful code of factory diligence, was the Herculean enterprise, the
noble achievement of Arkwright. Even at the present day, when the sys*
lem is perfectly organised, and its labour lightened to the utmost, it is found
nearly impossible to convert persons past the age of puberty, whether drawn
from rural or from handicraft occupations, into useful factory hands. After
struggling for a while to conquer their listless or restive habits, they either
renounce the employment spontaneously, or are dismissed on account of
inattention. If the factory Briareus could have been created by mechanical
genius alone, it should have come into being thirty years sooner ; for up-
wards of ninety years have now elapsed since John Wyatt, of Birmingham,
not only invented the series of fluted rollers, (the spinning fingers usually
ascribed to Arkwright,) but obtained a patent for the invention, and erected
^ a spinning engine without hands,' in his native town.
" The details of this remarkable circumstance, recently snatched from
oblivion, are given in Baines's History of the Cotton Manufacture. Wyatt
was a man of good education, in a respectable walk of life, much esteemed
by his superiors, and therefore favourably placed, in a mechanical point of
view, for maturing his admirable scheme. But he was of a gentle and
passive spirit ; little qualified to cope with the hardships of a new manufac-
turing enteiprise. It required, in fact, a man of a Napoleon nerve and ambi-
tion, to subdue the refractory tempers of workpeople, accustomed to irregular
paroxysms of diligence, and to urge on his multifarious and intricate con-
structions, in the face of prejudice, passion, and envy. Such was Arkwright,
who, suffering nothing to stay or turn aside his progress, arrived gloriously
at the goal, and has for ever affixed his name to a great era in the annals of
mankind : an era which has laid open unbounded prospects of wealth and
comfort to the industrious, however much they may have been, occasionally,
clouded by ignorance and folly.
" Prior to this period, manufactures were every where feeble and fluctua-
ting in their development ; shooting forth luxuriantly for a season, and again
withering almost to the roots, like annual plants. Their perennial growth
now began in England, and attracted capital in copious streams to irrigate
the rich domains of industry. When this new career commenced, about the
year 1770, the annual consumption of cotton, in British manufactures, was
under four millions of pounds weight, and that of the whole of Christendom
was, probably, not more than ten millions. Last year, 1835, the consump-
tion in Great Britain and Ireland was about two hundred and seventy mil-
lions of pounds, and that of Europe and the United States, together, four
hundred and eighty millions. This prodigious increase is, without doubt,
almost entirely due to the factory system, founded and upreared by the
intrepid native of Preston.
" If, then, this system be not merely an inevitable step in the social pro-
gression of the world, but the one which gives a commanding station and
influence to the people who most resolutely take it, it does not become any
man, far less a denizen of England, to vilify the author of a benefaction,
which, wisely administered, may become the best temporal gift of Provi-
dence to the poor, — a blessing destined to mitigate, and, in some measure,
to repeal, the primeval curse pronounced on the labour of man, *in the sweat
18
138 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
of thy face shalt thou eat bread.' Arkwright well deserres to life in
honoured remembrance among those ancient master-spirits, who persuaded
their roaming companions to exchange the precarious toils of the chase for
the settled comforts of agriculture.
" Under the auspices, and in obedience to Arkwright's polity, magnificent
edifices, surpassing far in number, value, usefulness, and ingenuity of con-
struction, the boasted monuments of Asiatic, Egyptian, and Roman despotism,
have, within the short period of fifty years, risen in England, to show to
what extent capital, industry and science, may augment the resources of a
state, while they meliorate the condition of its citizens. Such is the factory
system, replete with prodigies in mechanics and political economy, which
promises, in its future growth, to become the great minister of civilisation to
the terraqueous globe. As to exact mechanical science, no school can com-
pete with a modern cotton-mill.
" There are five distinct classes of factories ; first, the cotton factories ;
second, the woollen ; third, the worsted ; fourth, the flax, hempen, or linen ;
and fifth, the silk. These five factories have each peculiarities, of its raw
material and of its fabrics ; but they all possess certain family features, for
they all employ torsion to convert the loose slender fibres of vegetable or ani-
mal origin, into firm, coherent threads, and, with the exception of silk, they
all employ extension, also, to attenuate and equalise these threads, techni-
cally styled yarn. Even one kind of silk which occurs in entangled toftSi
called floss, is spun like cotton, by the simultaneous action of stretching
and twisting. The above named five orders of factories are set in motion by
steam engines or water-wheels ; they all give employment to multitudes of
children or adolescents* Mr. Anthony Strutt, who conducts the mechanical
department of the great cotton factories of Belper and Milford, has so
thoroughly departed from the old routine of the schools, that he will employ
no man who has learned his craft by regular apprenticeship ; but in contempt,
as it were, of the division of labour principle, he sets a plough-boy to turn a
shaft of perhaps several tons weight, and never has reason to repent his pre-
ference, because he infuses into the turning apparatus a precision of action,
equal, if not superior, to the skill of the most experienced journeyman. It
was indeed a subject of regret, to observe how frequently the workman's
eminence, in any craft, had to be purchased by the sacrifice of his health
and comfort. To one unvaried operation, which required unremitting
dexterity and diligence, his hand and eye were constantly on the strain, or
if they were sufiered to swerve from their task for a time, considerable loss
ensued, either to the employer or the operative, according as the work was
done by the day or by the piece. But on the equalisation plan of self-acting
machines, the operative needs to call his faculties only into agreeable exer-
cise ; he is seldom harassed with anxiety or fatigue, and may find many
leisure moments for either amusement or meditation, without detriment to
his master's interests or his own.* As his business consists in tending the
* ** It has been heretofore stated, that a portion of mankind laboured for others, as well
as for themselves. They are a respectable portion, and perform an essential part in
the business of life. We have seen that the two classes are useful to each other.
They are not the less so, because one is not as rich as the other, or labours in a subor-
dinate statloD. They are oo-workers for their own and the common good. He that
MORAL INPUENCB OF MANUFACTORIES. 139
work of a well regulated mechaQism, he can learn it in a short period ; and
when he transfers his services from one machine to another, he varies his
task, and enlarges his views by thinking on those general combinations
which result from his and his companion's labours. Thus, that cramping
would set one at variaooe with the others, is jnstly reprehensible, as a dlsorganiaer, an
enemj to the public familj, and its individual members. The man who would oppress
or depreiis either, deserves the indignation of the community, and until better diiposed,
should be left to help himself.
** But the evil most to bo deprecated, is not that one roan is poor and another rich, it
is not that the poor are oppressed by the rich — the evil has a foundation deeper and
broader than has yet been suggested. The condition of society would be much improved,
men would be made more equal and more respected, by a more general diffusion of
that information which is useful in all situations, by encouraging habits of industry
and temperance, by raising the moral character above the vices which disgrsce and
degrade men. There is poverty, want and wretchedness everywhere ; more or less
of these are in all families and in all places. And why is it so? The fault is our
own ; every man is chargeable with a portion of it The remedy is as near home as
the disease. The evil is so common the cause is overlooked.
** It is ignorance. The want of that knowled^ of men and things, necessary to a
due estimation of the rights and duties belonging to the various situations in life.
People will neither read, think, or reflect as they ought They neglect the mind, which
distinguishes them from the beasts of burden ; and they care as little for their cbikiren
as for themselves* — There ^is no want of schools. The means of instruction are fur-
nished, and they are accessible to every child at the public expense. Add to this the
teachings which may and ought to be acquired at home, and at church, with a doe
improvement of all, and the evils which originate in ignorance will cease ; the poor boy
by habitual 'industry, will * become a philosopher, a statesman, or a divine;* and shed
around him the benign influence of his great and good works, enioy the honour and
confidence of the public, and the high satisfaction of having acted his part well, which
is the best of all rewards. But * poverty and shame sbiul be to him that refuseth
instruction.*
*^ Jtis idUne$$, The parent of a thousand evils and as many vices. The legitimate
progenitor of poverty — many will not work. Some that are most busy do nothing —
what they acquire they waste, and with it waste themselves. The idler not only
injures himself, but others come within his baneful influence. It requires many hands
to do the idler*s work. * The sluggard will not plough by reason of the cold, therefore
he shall beg in the harvest and have nothing.*
** It it extravagance. Mankind are deluded by fashion. Dress, show, and equipage,
hold too high a place among their household gods. They live l>eyond their income
The luxuries of life are its bane, — the canker worms that eat op a man*s substance
and turn him out of his house, and send his children begging.
" It is intemperance — a near relation to the preceding. The morning, noon, and
evening dram, and the rum bottle at home, will finish tlie mischief and consume all that
is left of body and mind. Of the reward of these, others may speak; of their degrada*
tion none can doubt Such evils are more or less prevalent among all classes and
ranks, sinking, destroying, and brutalising man. The remedy is for each one to reform
himself. It is the moral courage and determined energy of the philanthropist who
would make o^n happier, by making them better ; and not the doubtful dogmas of the
mere politician, or the cold philosophy and metsphysical reasonings of a cloistered
* hook-worm.*
** Moral evils are the real and alarming cause of complaint Remove them, and there
will be more equality, less poverty, less murmuring, and less discontent The well
directed power of moral influence, will eflSect the surest cure ; it will do for society,
what the lever of Archimedes would in mechanics, move the world and overturn the
reservoirs of vice. ^
** New legislation cannot reach the source of the evil, or heal the disease which is
weakening and wasting the energies of our political and social relations.**
** Operativet in England. — The idea most prominent in the minds of most people
in relation to the great manufiicturing establishments of Great Britain is, that they are
sources of imnMnse individual and national wealth ; and the next is, that they enclose
within their walls a demoraUsed and over-worked population. The Edinburgh RsvisVt
140 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
of the faculties, that narrowing of the mind, that stunting of the frame, whieli
were ascribed, and not unjustly, by moral writers, to the division of labour,
cannot, in common circumstances, occur under the equable distribution of
industry. How superior in vigour and intelligence are the factory mechanics
iu Lancashire, where the latter system of labour prevails, to the handicraft
artisans of London, who to a great extent continue slaves to the former. The
one set is familiar with almost every physico-mechanicai combination, while
the other seldom knows any thing beyond the pin-head sphere of his dailj
task."
Copy of a letter from Benjamin Hawkins, accompanying the Pre9idenf$
communication to Congress, December 8, 1801.
'^ The present spring, the agent has delivered to Indian women, 100 pair of
cotton cards, and 80 spinning wheels ; there are eight looms in the nation,
four of them wrought by Indian or half breed women, and the remainder
by white women. There is a woman employed as an assistant, to teach the
to which we recur for the purpose of saying a few words on this interesting point,
■troogly coatrtdicts the statements that have been circolated, chiefly, it says, by Mr.
8tdler*s fiunoos fiictory report, in regard to the minoos effects of factory Uboor. The
pablieatioD of Mr. Sadler** report and the discossion conwquent hereapoo, led to the
appointment by the Dritish government of a commission to enquire on the spot into the
actual condition of the labourers, which enquiry resulted in proving, says the Edfai-
burgh Review, that the representations in regard to the pernicious influence of thin kind
of labour have been grossly ezsggerated. Instances of abuses are declared to be mn^
and it is asserted that, speaking generally, factory work people, including children, are
as healthy and contented as any class of the community obliged to earn their bread bj
the sweat of their brow.
** Mr. Tufnel, one of the commissioners who'weot through Lancasliire, makes stats-
ments which appear conclusive as to the condition of labourers employed in factories.
Of all the common prejojiices with regard to fiictory labour, none, says this gentlenuuit
is more unfounded thsn that which ascribes to it excessive tedium and irksomenese
above all other occupations, owing to its being carried on in conjunction with the
* unceasing motion of the steam engine.* This erroneous opinion proceeds from the
belief that because the motion of the steam engine is inc e s sa nt, the labour accompany-
ing it is incessant also. But the reverse of this is the fact The way to prevent an
employment being incessant is to introduce a steam engine. Three fourths of the
children employed in cotton mills are not actively at work for more than four honrs oat
of the twelve. The English speak always of st^m, because with them it has, ht all
kinds of large ketones, superseded almost entirelv the use of water power. In this
country, water power continues to be used in nearly all oar large manufactoring esta-
blishments. The result, of coarse, is precisely the same as regards the hnman laboiir
required in conjunction.
** The stories as to the immorality of persons employed in factories, are declared to
be utterly fiilse. The evidence of various clergymen of Manchester intimately
acquainted with the factory proprietors, goes to show that the morals of the personi
engaged in mills are quite as good as those of any other class of people. This aceoant
coincides with what is known to be the fact in this country as to this important part of
the factory system. From gentlemen connected with the large manufactories in the
neighbourhood of this city, we have heard an equally good report. The manufacturing
population of LoweU, Massachusetts, five thoosand of whom are females, is as moral as
any in the world. Nay, we doubt whether in any community in the United States, or
any where else, in town or country, comprising the same number of inhabitants, there
is so little rice as in Lowell, a town which has grown up to sadden proeperity solely
through manofactnring indostry.
^ In regard to the effscts on health, enquiries resoHed in the ooochisioa, that *■ frctory
labour is decidediv not injarioos to beahh or longevity, compared with other employ-
MORAL INFLUENCE OF MANUFACTORIES. 141
women how to spin and weave ; and the agent has appointed as a temporary
assistant, a youDg Englishman, from a manufactory in Stockport, England,
who can make looms and spinning wheels, and every thing appertaining to
them, and he understands weaving. He will in a few days have a ninth
loom set up at the residence of the agent. The women have this spring
adopted this part of the plan with spirit, and have promised to follow the
directions of the agent with exactitude. These Indian women, of one
family, have been spinning for two years only, have clothed themselves well,
are proud of the exertions they have made, and are, by their conduct, a
stimulus to their countrywomen. One of the looms and two of the spinning
wheels in use, were made by an Indian chief, for his own family.
*' The chiefs, who were apprehensive at first, that if their women could
clothe and find themselves by their own exertions, they would become in-
dependent of the degraded connection between them, have had proofs that
the link is more firm, in proportion as the women are more useful, and oc-
cupied in domestic concerns."
" Perhaps," say« Babbage, " to the sober eye of inductive philo-
sophy, these anticipations of the future may appear too faintly
connected with the history of the past. When time shall have
revealed the future progress of our race, those laws which are now
obscurely indicated, will then become distinctly apparent ; and it
may possibly be found that the dominion of mind over the material
world advances with an ever accelerating force.
*' Even now, the imprisoned winds which the earliest poet made
the Grecian warrior bear for the protection of his fragile bark ; or
those which, in more modem times, the Lapland wizards sold to
the deluded sailors ; these, the unreal creations of fancy or of
fraud, called, at the command of science, from their shadowy ex-
istence, obey a holier spell : and the unruly masters of the poet
and the seer become the obedient slaves of civilised man.
<< Nor has the wild imagination of the satirist been quite un-
rivaled by the realities of after years: as if in mockery of the
college of Laputa, light almost solar has been extracted from the
refuse of fish; fire has been sifted by the lamp of Davy; and
machinery has been taught arithmetic instead of poetry.
" In whatever light we examine the triumphs and achievements
of our species over the creation submitted to its power, we explore
new sources of wonder. But if science has called into real exist-
ence the visions of the poet — if the accumulating knowledge of
ages has blunted the sharpest and distanced the loftiest of the
shafts of the satirist, the philosopher has conferred on the moralist
an obligation of surpassing weight. In unveiling to him the
living miracles which teem in rich exuberance around the minutest
Mom, as well as throughout the largest masses of ever-active
142 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
matter, he has placed before him resistless evidence of immeasur-
able design. Surrounded by every form of animate and ineinimate
existence, the sun of science has yet penetrated but through the
outer fold of nature's majestic robe ; but if the philosopher were
required to separate, from among those countless evidences of
creative power, one being, the masterpiece of its skill ; and from
that being to select one gift, the choicest of all the attributes of
life ; — ^turning within his own breast and conscious of thosfe
powers which have subjugated to his race the external world, and
of those higher powers by which he has subjugated to himself
that creative faculty which aids his faltering conceptions of a Deityi
— the humble worshipper at the altar of truth would pronounce
that being, — man ; that endowment, — human reason.
" But however large the interval that separates the lowest from
th-e highest of those sentient beings which inhabit our planet, all
the results of observation, enlightened by all the reasonings of the
philosopher, combine to render it probable that, in the vast extent
of creation, the proudest attribute of our race is but, perchance,
the lowest step in the gradation of intellectual existence. For,
since every portion of our own material globe, and every animated
being it supports, afford, on more scrutinising enquiry, more
perfect evidence of design, it would indeed be most unphilosophi-
cal to believe that those sister spheres, glowing with light and
heat radiant from the same central source — and that the members
of those kindred systems, almost lost in the remoteness of space,
and perceptible only from the countless multitude of their congre-
gated globes — should each be no more than a floating chaos of
unformed matter ; or, being all the work of the same Almighty
Architect, that no living eye should be gladdened by their forms of
beauty, that no intellectual being should expand its £siculties in
deciphering their laws."
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 143
CHAPTER V.
THE VALUE AND USES OP PROPERTY.
** The fenie to vtlae riches, with the art
To enjoy them, «Dd the firtue to impart, —
To balance fortune bj a just ezpenie,
Join with economy, magnificence.**
■* AUw! for the sordid propensities of modern days, when every thing is coined into
gold, and this once holy -day planet of ours is tamed into a * mere working-day world.* **
laviNG.
It cannot be concealed, that there have been apprehensions of
the evil effects of manufacturing establishments in this country,
but these forebodings have been chiefly prospective. It is not
pretended that they have yet been productive of evil ; indeed,
the evidence is positive, that much good has been produced.
With regard to the state of Rhode Island, I had an opportunity of
knowing its moral condition previous to 1812 ; and I have since
traveled in nearly every part of the state, and the change for the
better, especially in the manufacturing districts, is incredible. No
one but an eye witness could believe that such a favourable change
of society could have taken place, in the short period of twenty-
five years. It is true, that the abuse of these institutions may
produce bad results, but the abuse is no argument against the
thing itself. I am persuaded, that wherever a village is under
good regulations, that the tendency is altogether favourable to
morals and intelligence. There is, therefore, no more evil to be
dreaded, in prospective, from the system of manufacturing for our-
selves, than there is from the system of self-government ; they
may be turned to an evil purpose ; and what blessing of heaven
may not ? But while a love of virtue and liberty remains, these
institutions will be cherished with confidence and advantage to the
whole community. Sufficient testimony has been adduced to
prove that the present state of American manufactures is superior to
any in the world, as it respects the rate of wages, the means of intel-
lectual improvement, and their moral condition. If the introduc-
tion of labour-saving machinery, and of the whole manufacturing
system, with all its accompaniments, had proved detrimental to
the good order of society ; if it had endangered the liberties of the
144 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
people, or infringed on any principle of our free institutions ; if it
had reared a degraded, impoverished, or debilitated race of beings ;
if, in fact, ignorance and vice had marked these districts, as the
victims of corruption and pollution, their destruction would have
been inevitable : no laws could have saved a single establishment
All this and more was apprehended ; and if these things had fol-
lowed in the train of manufactories, I hope I should have been the
last to have recorded their progress with approbation. I have eight
powerful arguments to prevent such a course ; but on the contrary,
I trust I should have been the first to have stamped their features,
in all their hideous forms, that they might justly receive the repro-
bation of mankind. No increase of wealth, or of strength, would
have compensated for a destitution of virtue and intelligence. It
was the circumstance, that I had witnessed the moral aspect of
New England, decidedly improved, that induced me to attempt a
survey of the subject.
I agree that, if the threatened deleterious effects had followed
the making of our own clothing, instead of importing it from
Europe ; I would say, indeed, it would be better to drain the coun-
try of every dollar of specie than to have laid the foundation of
impunity and slavery. With the loss of truth, virtue, aad
liberty, wealth is inadequate to give happiness to man.
The value of property is manifest^ because it is the reward of
the virtues of order, diligence, and temperance ; and these are
essential to the acquisition of it : for the industrious nations are
elevated above all the people of the earth.*
* Mr. Burke, one of the greatest and best friends of our liberty, speaking,
in the house of commons, of the wealth which the people of New England
had drawn from their fisheries, pronounced that eulogium upon their genius
and enterprise, which should be indelibly engraven upon the memory of
every New England youth, in honour of his father-land.
In speaking of the manner in which the whale fishery had been carried on,
he says : — " And pray, sir, what in the world is equal to it ? — Pass by the
other parts, and look at the manner in which the people of New England
have, of late, carried on the whale fishery. Whilst we follow them among
the tumbling mountains of ice, and behold them penetrating into the deepest
frozen recesses of Hudson's Bay, and Davies' Straits ; whilst we are looking
for them beneath the arctic circle, we hear that they have pierced into the op-
posite region of polar cold ; that they are at the antipodes, and engaged under
the frozen serpent of the south. Falkland Island, which seemed too remote
and romantic an object for the grasp of national ambition, is but a stage,
and resting-place in the progress of their victorious industry. Nor is the
equinoctial heat more discouraging to them, than the accumulated winter at
both the poles. We know that whilst some of them draw the line and strike
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 145
Mr. Webster's eulogy of Hamilton accords with my own views,
and it will serve to introduce another extract from his report on
manufactures, which I consider the true American doctrine on
wealth.
" Hamilton felt the full importance of the crisis ; and the reports
of his speeches are yet lasting monuments to his genius and
patriotism. He saw, at last, his hopes fulfilled ; he saw the con-
stitution adopted, and the government under it, established and
organised. The discerning eye of Washington immediately called
him to that post, which was infinitely the most important in the
administration of the new system. He was made secretary of the
treasury, and how he, fulfilled the duties of such a place, at such
a time, the whole country perceived with delight, and the whole
world saw with admiration. He smote the rock of the national
resources, and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. He
touched the dead corpse of the public credit, and it sprung upon
its feet. The fabled birth of Minerva, from the brain of Jove, was
hardly more sudden or more perfect, than the financial system of
the United States burst forth from the conceptions of Hamilton."
The following extract exhibits some of those lucid principles of
national wealth : —
" That which seems to be the principal argument ofiered for the
superior productiveness of agricultural labour, turns upon the
allegation, that labour employed in manufactures yields nothing
equivalent to the rent of land ; or to that net surplus as it is called,
which accrues to the proprietor of the soil. But this distinction,
important as it has been deemed, appears rather verbal than sub-
stantial. It is easily discernible, that what in the first instance
is divided into two parts, under the denominations of the ordinary
profit of the stock of the farmer, and rent to the landlord, is in the
second instance united under the general appellation of the ordi-
nary profit on the stock of the undertaker ; and that this formal
or verbal distribution constitutes the whole difierence in the two
cases. It seems to have been overlooked, that the land itself is a
stock or capital, advanced or lent by its owner, to the occupier or
the harpoon, on the coast .of Africa, others run the longitude, and pursue the
gigantic game along the coast of Brazil. No sea but what is vexed by their
fisheries, — no climate that is not witness to their toils. Neither the perse-
verance of Holland, nor the activity of France, nor the dexterous and firm*
sagacity of English enterprise, ever carried this most perilous mode of hardy
industry, to the extent to which it has been pushed by this recent people, a
people who are still, as it were, but in the gristle, and not yet hardened into
the bone of manhood."
19
146 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL 8LAT£B«
tenant ; and the rent he receives is only the ordinary profit of a
certain stock in land, not managed by the proprietor himselfj but
by another to whom he lends or lets it, and who, on his part, ad-
vances a second capital to stock and improve the land, upon which
he also receives the usual profit. The rent of the landlord and
the profit of the iiurmer are therefore nothing more than the ordi-
nary profits of two capitals belonging to two different persons, and
united in the cultivation of a {aim. As in the other case, the sur-
plus which arises upon any manufactory, after replacing the
expenses of carrying it on, answers to the ordinary profits of one
or more capitals engaged in the prosecution of such manufactory.
It is said one or more capitals ; because, in fact, the same thii^;
which is contemplated in the case of the farm, sometimes happens
in that of a manufactory. There is one who furnishes a part of
the capital, or lends a part of the money, by which it is carried
on ; and another, who carries it on, with the addition of his own
capital. Out of the surplus which remains, after defraying ex-
penses, an interest is paid to the money lender for the portion of
the capital furnished by him, which exactly agrees with the rent
paid to the landlord ; and the ^residue of that surplus constitutes
the profit of the undertaker, or manufacturer, and agrees with
what is denominated the ordinary profits of two capitals employed
in a manufactory ; as, in the other case, the rent of the landlord
and the revenue of the farmer compose the ordinary profits of two
capitals, employed in the cultivation of a &rm. The rent, there-
fore, accruing to the proprietor of the land, far from being a cri-
terion of exclusive productiveness, as has been argued, is no cri-
terion even of superior productiveness. The question must still
be, whether the surplus, after defraying expenses, of a given
capital, employed in the purchase and improvement of a piece of
land, is greater or less, than that of a like capital employed in the
prosecution of a manufactory ; or whether the whole value pro-
duced from a given capital and a given quantity of labour, em-
ployed in the other way ; or, rather, perhaps, whether the business
of agriculture or that of manufactures will yield the greatest pro-
duct, according to a compound ratio of the quantity of the capital
and the quantity of labour, which are employed in the one or in
the other. The solution of either of these questions is not easy.
It involves numerous and complicated details depending on an ac-
curate knowledge of the objects to be compared. It is not known
that the comparison has ever yet been made upon sufficient data,
properly ascertained and analysed. To be able to make it on the
present occasion with satisfactory precision, would demand more
vaIue and uses op property. 147
previous enquiry and investigation, than there has been hitherto
leisure or opportunity to accomplish. Some essays, however, have
been made towards acquiring the requisite information ; which
have rather served to throw doubt upon, than to confirm, the
hypothesis under examination. But it ought to be acknowledged,
that they have been too little diversified, and are too imperfect
to authorise a definitive conclusion either way ; leading rather to
probable conjecture than to certain deduction. They render it
probable, that there are various branches of manu&ctures, in
which a given capital will yield a greater total product, and a
considerably greater net product, than an equal capital invested in
the purchase and improvements of lands ; and that there are also
some branches, in which both the gross and the net produce will
exceed that of agricultural industry ; according to a compound
ratio of capital and labour. But it is on this last point that there
appears to be the greatest room for doubt. It is far less difficult to
infer generally, that the net produce of capital engaged in manu-
fisLcturing enterprises is greater than that of capital engaged in
agriculture. In stating these results, the purchase and improve-
ment of lands, under previous cultivation, are alone contemplated.
The comparison is more in favour of agriculture, when it is made
with reference to the settlement of new and waste lands ; but an
argument drawn from so temporary a circumstance could have
no weight in determining the general question concerning the per-
manent relative productiveness of the two species of industry.
How fair it ought to influence the policy of the United States, on
the score of particular situation, will be adverted to in another
place. The foregoing suggestions are not designed to inculcate an
opinion that manufacturing industry is more productive than that
of agriculture. They are intended rather to show that the reverse
of this proposition is not ascertained ; that the general arguments
which are brought to establish it, are not satis&ctory ; and con-
sequently that a supposition of the superior productiveness of
tillage ought to be no obstacle to listening to any substantial
inducements to the encouragement of manufactures, which may
be otherwise perceived to exist, through an apprehension, that they
may have a tendency to divert labour from a more to a less profit-
able employment. It is extremely probable, that on a full and
accurate development of the matter, on the ground of fact and
calculation, it would be discovered that there is no material differ-
ence between the aggregate productiveness of the one, and of the
other kind of industry ; and that the propriety of the encourage-
ments, which may in any case be proposed to be given to either,
148 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER. .
ought to be determined upon considerations irrelative to any com-
parison of that nature. But without contending for the superior
productiveness of manufacturing industry, it may conduce to a '
better judgment of the policy, which ought to be pursued respect-
ing its encouragement, to contemplate the subject under some
additional aspects, tending not only to confirm the idea, that this
kind of industry has been improperly represented as unproductive
in itself; but to evince in addition that the establishment and dif-
fusion of manufactures have the effect of rendering the total mass
of useful and productive labour, in a community, greater than it
would btherwise be.
" In prosecuting this discussion, it may be necessary briefly to
resume and review some of the topics which have been already
touched. To affirm that the labour of the manufacturer is unpro-
ductive because he consumes as much of the produce of land as
he adds value to the raw materials which he manufactures, is not
better founded, than it would be to affirm, that the labour of the
farmer, which furnishes materials to the manufacturer, is unpro-
ductive, because he consumes an equal value of manufactured
articles. Each furnishes a certain portion of the produce of his
labour to the other. In the meantime the maintenance of two
citizens instead of one, is going on ; the state has two members
instead of one ; and they together consume twice the value of
what is produced from the land. If instead of a farmer and arti-
ficer, there were a farmer only, he would be under the necessity of
devoting a part of his labour to the fabrication of clothing and
other articles which he would procure of the artificer, in the case
of there being such a person ; and of course he would be able to
devote less labour to the cultivation of his farm, and would draw
from it a proportionably less product. The whole quantity of pro-
duction, in this state of things, in provisions, raw materials, and
manufactures, would certainly not exceed in value the amount
of what would be produced in provisions and raw materials only,
if there were ain artificer as well as a farmer. Again — If there
were both an artificer and a farmer, the latter would be left at
liberty to pursue exclusively the cultivation of his farm. A greater
quantity of provisions and raw materials would of course be pro-
duced, equal, at least, as has been already observed, to the amount
of the provisions, raw materials, and manufactures, which would
exist on a contrary supposition. The artificer, at the same time,
would be going on in the production of manufactured commodities;
to an amount sufficient not only to repay the farmer, in those com-
modities, for the provisions and materials which were procured
YALUB AND USES OF PROPERTY. 149
from him, but to furnish the artificer himself with a supply of
similar commodities for his own use. Thus then, there would be
two quantities of Yalues in existence instead of one ; and the
revenue and consumption would be double in one case, what it
would be in the other. If, in place of both these suppositions,
there were supposed to be two farmers and no artificer, each of
whom applied a part of his labour to the culture of land, and
another part to the fabrication of manufactures ; in this case, the
portion of the labour of both bestowed upon land, would produce
the same quantity of provisions and raw materials only, as would
be produced by the entire sum of the labour of odc applied in the
same manner, and the portion of the labour of both bestowed upon
manufactures, would produce the same quantities only, as would
be produced by the entire sum of the labour of one applied in the
same manner. Hence the produce of the labour of the two farmers
would not be greater than the produce of the labour of the farmer
and artificer ; and hence it results that the labour of the artificer
is as positively productive as that of the farmer, and as positively
augments the revenue of the society. The labour of the artificer
replaces to the farmer that portion of his labour with which he
provides the materials of exchange with the artificer, and which
he would otherwise have been compelled to apply to manufactures;
and while the artificer thus enables the farmer to enlarge his stock
of agricultural industry, a portion of which he purchases for his
own use, he also supplies himself with the manufactured articles
of which he stands in need. He does still more. — Besides this
equivalent which he gives for the portion of agricultural labour
consumed by him, and this supply of manufactured commodities
for his own consumption ; he furnishes still a surplus, which
compensates lor the use of the capital advanced either by himself
or some other person, for carrying on the business. This is the
ordinary profit of the stock employed in the manufactory, and is,
in every sense, as efiective an addition to the income of the society
as the rent of land. The produce of the labour of the artificer,
consequently, may be regarded as composed of three parts ; one
by which the provisions for his subsistence and the materials for
his work are purchased of the fanner; one by which he supplies
himself with manufactured necessaries ; and a third which con-
stitutes the profit on the stock employed. The two last portions
seem to have been overlooked in the system, which represents
manufacturing industry as barren and unproductive. In the course
of the preceding illustrationid, the products of equal quantities of
the labour of the farmer and artificer, have been treated as if
150 MBMOIB OF SAMUEL 8LATBB.
equal to each other. But this is not to be understood as intending
to assert any such precise equality. It is merely a manner of ex-
pression adopted for the sake of simplicity and perspicuity.
Whether the value of the produce of the labour of the ftmner be
somewhat more or less than that of the artificer, is not material to
the main scope of the argument, which hitherto has only aimed
at showing that the one, as well as the other, occasions a positive
augmentation of the total produce and revenue of the society. It
is now proper to proceed a step further, and to enumerate the
principal circumstances from which it may be inferred, that
monu&cturing establishments not only occasion a positive aug-
mentation of the produce and revenue of the society, but that they
contribute essentially to rendering them greater than they could
possibly be without such establishments. These circumstances
are, 1. The division of labour. 2. The extension of the use €i
machinery. 3. Additional emplojrment to classes of the commu-
nity not ordinarily engaged in the business. 4. The promotion of
emigration from foreign countries. 6. The furnishing greater
scope for the diversity of talents and dispositions, which discrimi-
nate men from each other."
" This report on manufactures is perhaps the most elaborate per-
formance he left on the files of his ofiice. It is distinguished for
extensive research, judicious application of the knowledge attained,
and an accurate estimate of the policy of encouraging the manu-
facturing interest, as an essential feature in the independence of
the nation. This report adopts the principles of the mercantile
system, in opposition to Adam Smith and the French economists.
They attacked the combined manu&cturing and mercantile inte-
rests. of Great Britain, as founded upon oppressive monopoly ; and
contended!for entire freedom of commerce and industry, undiverted
and unimpeded by government, as the best means of advancing
nations to prosperity and greatness. The secretary combated
with the greatest ability some of the dogmas of these philosophers,
and maintained his favourite system as much by the power of his
logic, as by illustrative and pertinent reference to the experience of
those nations, at once successful in commerce and great in the
productions of art. It is now more than forty years since his
report on manufactures was made to congress. Now his opinions
on that great branch of natural economy are become popular in
the United States. For the last fifteen years societies have been
formed iu every part of the country, composed of gentlemen in all
the various pursuits of life, expressly to procure and disseminate
iufi>rnuition tending to encourage the manufacturing interests o:.
VALUE AND USES OP PROPEBTT. 161
the nation. Memorials of most interesting and impressive charac-
ter for eloquence, correct principles, and patriotic devotion, have
been published to the people ; and committees appointed to stimu-
late the federal government to a particular patronage of that
branch of industry and political strength. These memorials and
committees espouse the sentiments which were assumed by Secre-
tary Hamilton. The Hon. John Holmes deUvered, in the senate
of the United States, a synopsis of this report, as a speech on the
tariff, observing that nothing new could be added. In this parti-
cular, as on the subjects of the funded debt and national bank,
the experience of the last half century has clearly proved that he
was, in his time, more correctly impressed as to the true interests
and policy of the United States, and better understood their politi-
cal and domestic economy, than any other statesman who has
been at all prominent in their public affairs. All his official reports
are remarkable for wide research, profound thought, close logic,
and precision of expression. His labours in the treasury depart-
ment, united with the integrity with which he conducted it, and
which the most penetrating inquisition into aU the avenues of his
office could never bring into question, will form with posterity the
fiurest monument of his fame. In organising the federal govern-
ment, in 1789, every man of either sense or candour will allow, the
difficulties seemed greater than the first rate abilities could sur-
mount. The event has shown that his abiUties were greater than
those difficulties. He surmounted them, and Washington's admi-
nistration was the most wise and beneficent, the most prosperous,
and ought to be the most popular, that ever was entrusted with
the affairs of a nation. Great as was Washington's merits much
of it in plan, much in execution, was due to the talents, and ought
to enhance the memory, of his minister. As a statesman, he was
not more distinguished by the great extent of his views, than by
the caution with which he provided against impediments, and the
watchfulness of his care over the rights and liberty of the subject.
In none of the many revenue bills which he framed, is there to
be found a single clause that savours of despotic power ; not one
that the sagest champions of law and liberty would, on that
ground, hesitate to approve and adopt. It is rare that a man who
owes so much to nature descends to seek more from industry ; but
he seemed to depend on industry, as if nature had done nothing
for him. His habits of investigation were very remarkable, his
mind seemed to cling to his subject till he had exhausted it.
Hence the uncommon superiority of his reasoning powers, a supe-
riority that seemed to be augmented firom every source, and to be
152 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
fortified by every auxiliary — learning, taste, wit, imagination, and
eloquence. These were embellished and enforced by his temper
and manners, by his fame and his virtues. It is difficult, in the
midst of such various excellence, to say in what particular the
effect of his greatness was most manifest. No man more promptly
discerned truth. No man more clearly displayed it. It is not
merely made visible. It seemed to come bright with illumination
from his lips. For the truth, which his researches so distinctly
presented to the understanding of others, was rendered almost
irresistibly commanding and impressive, by the love and reverence
which, it was ever apparent, he profoundly cherished for it in his
own. While patriotism glowed in his heart, wisdom blended in
his speech her authority with her charms. Such, also, is the
character of his writings. Judiciously collected, they will be a
public treasure.
*^ The most substantial glory of a country is in its virtuous great
men. Its prosperity will depend on its docility to learn from their
example. That nation is fated to ignominy and servitude, for
which such men lived in vain. Power may be seized by a nation
that is yet barbarous, and wealth may be enjoyed by one that it
finds or renders sordid. The one is a gift and the sport of acci-
dent, and the other is the sport of power. Both are mutable, and
have passed away, without leaving behind them any other memo-
rial, than ruins that offend taste, and traditions that baffle con-
jecture.
'^ But the glory of Greece is imperishable, or will last as long as
learning itself, which is its monument. It strikes an everlasting
root, and bears perennial blossoms on its grave. The name of
Hamilton would not have dishonoured Greece in the age of
Aristides:'*
* M. Carey, the author of the Olive Branch, in his disinterested exertions to
promote the American system, was the means of circulating the report of
Hamilton, more than any other individual ; and, indeed, Mr. Carey's patriotic
exertions are deserving of high praise.
" Believing that Alexander Hamilton was the real father of the American
system — that therefore the manufacturers were very deeply indebted to him
— that they ought to hold his memory sacred — and that they would of coarse
rejoice in an opportunity of showing their gratitude, I projected the striking
of a medal to his honour ; and made a conditional arrangement with Mr.
Gobrecht, a celebrated die sinker, for the execution. The expense of the
die, and some small items, would have been two hundred and seventy
dollars. The subscription was to be five dollars each, for fifty-four persons,
to be divided equally between Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, eighteen
to each place. But trifling as was the contribution, economy prevailed over
J ^
VAt*UB AND USES OF PROPERTY. 163
That timidity which causes young men to remain in idleness,
and distrust the bounties of Providence, is a vice which ought to
be fought against on its first approaches. The earth bringeth
forth abundantly, the young ravens, the cattle upon a thousand
hills, are fed ; and shall He not feed you, O ye of little faith !
Ambition to prosper in business, in the first place, fired Slater
to leave the home of his parents — to separate firom his kindred — to
leave his country — to cross the Atlantic, then a more formidable
voyage than at present. This enabled him to come among
strangers, and suffer their suspicions and neglect, to endure every
hardship in his first attempts ; so it never left him — ^he gained his
purpose. A fortune raised in that spirit ought to be cherished,
and managed in an honourable manner, out of respect to its
founder. Ambition operates in various ways ; in Slater, I think,
it led to a desire to leave his children in a permanent and lucra-
tive business, as his old master, Strutt, left his sons, whose pos-
terity are now enjoying their inheritance. Nor can I see any evil
in the exercise of such ambition, if it does not interfere with other
and more important duties. There is no evil in the accumulation
of property, if it be done honestly and honourably, without infringe-
ing on the rights and privileges of others. This being with Slater
a strong passion, he could not be easily diverted from it, but met
every otetacle with fortitude, before which mountains became
plains, and hills were removed. This courage when properly
used, is virtuous and praiseworthy, and ought to be imitated.
" To do good, with the property which we have saved by our
gratitude. I sent the prospectus to two veiy extensive and influential manu-
facturers in Boston and New York, neither of whom procured a subscriber.
I hired a person in Philadelphia at a dollar per day, to go among the manu-
facturers to procure signatures. In five days he procured eleven ! I need
not add that the project was abandoned.
" The subscribers, desirous of transmitting to posterity a lasting testimonial
of their high sense of the profound and weidth-producing system of political
economy displayed in the admirable report un manufactures, by Alexander
Hamilton, secretary of the treasury, under the administration of General
Washington — a report, which, considering the previous uncongenial habits
of the illustrious writer, may be placed among the proudest monuments
of the human intellect; and, considering his political and anti-manu-
facturing associations, as a decisive proof of the most sterling patriotism,
have agreed to subscribe each five dollars for the purpose of procuring a die
for striking medals to commemorate the memory of a statesman, who, by
the work in question, has had a beneficent influence in promoting the
national prosperity, which it would be scarcely possible to appreciate too
highly."
20
164 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
honesty, economy, temperance, and industry, is one great end of
our existence ; it is the perfection of the Christian character, and
should be the first lesson in all education. The selfish and hard-
hearted, who strive, by monopoly and every unfair advantage, to
obtain unequal privileges, to get all they can, to accept all that is
given, and to give nothing, never dream of that, which is so true,
tliat the giver is the happiest man. But to enable us to give we
must have something, and this again shows us the value of pro-
perty. Those who have nothing, may be kind-hearted, generous,
and naturally noble-minded ; they may for ever be thinking to do
good, and hoping that the time will come, when they shall be
able to bring something about ; but very Uttle, comparatively, is
ever in their power.
'' Property provides for the body, clothes and feeds us ; it buikb
our houses, supplies them with furniture, provides all the tools for
our work on our farms, and every where else, and settles our wild
lands ; for a poor man connot even move from the old to the new
states unless he has made some provision for that purpose. It
builds the manufactories, supplies them with stock, and pays the
wages of the hands. If indigent people come to us from Europe,
there must be more property than just enough for us to live upon,
or we cannot set them to work, and they must starve.
^^ If the destitute English, Scots, and Irish, were to emigrate to
the poor countries of Europe, they would perish ; they therefore,
are as much interested in increasing the property of this country,
as the natives are. It is the increasing property of the United
States which is now employing these poor people in the building
of canals and railroads. Nothing but our superfluous wealth can
feed the hungry or clothe the naked.
" All progress and improvements in the arts, in the engines, toob,
and labour-saving machines of the mechanic, farmer, and mann-
fecturer, are to be attributed mainly to the increasing property of
the people." — Sedgwick.
" When a poor man wants food or drink, and must have it, the
first thing he does is to work ; this is the price he pays, and at
night he receives his recompense, in a bushel of wheat, or rye, or
money, or some other thing. The reason why he must pay io
his own labour immediately, is, that he has no labour stored or
laid up : in other words, he has none of the products of labour,
such as money, or other property. But suppose a good farmer,
whose farm is not mortgaged, and whose cattle and goods are
neither pledged for debt, nor under a sherifi^'s execution, desires
to buy ; he also pays in labour ; but it is not the labour of that
VALUB AND U8E8 OP PROPERTY. 165
day, but of some former period. He has been a man of prudence ;
he has stored up labour, which now consists of wheat, corn, rye,
cattle, &c. ; these are the things that he worked for last year ; these
he exchanges for what he wants. A rich man, who never wrought
a day in his life, he may not have wheat, com, or rye, with
which to pay, but he has money, which is as completely labour
laid up, as the farmer's stores. It is not the result of his own
labour, but that of his &ther, grandfather, or some other indus-
trious man. Some one has given labour for it ; for there is no
other way, as an almost universal rule, by which money can be
obtained, in the first instance, but by being worked for. It is ob-
tained from the mines by labour, as before stated ; and the labourer
who gets it, is paid for his work, as all other labourers are. The
merit of this rich man, then, is that, he has saved, and not fool-
ishly thrown away, his hoarded labour, — that which he is sure
has cost the aweat and toil of industrious people." — Ibid.
** New England has not been a leader in this policy. On the con-
trary, she held back herself, and tried to hold others back from it^
from the adoption of the constitution of 1824. Up to this tin^e,
she was accused of sinister and selfish designs, becausa she discoun*
ienanced the progress of this policy. It was laid to her charge, then,
that having established her manu&ctures herself, she wished that
others should not have the power of rivaling her ; and for that
reason, opposed all legislative encouragement. Under this angry
denunciation against her, the act of 1824 passed. Now, (1828)
the imputation is precisely of an opposite character. The present
measure is pronounced to be exclusively for the benefit of New
England ; to be brought forward by her agency, and designed to
gratify the cupidity of her wealthy establishments. Both charges
are equally without the slightest foundation. The opinion of
New England, up to 1824, was founded in the conviction that, on
the whole, it was wisest and best, both for herself and others^ that
manu&ctures should make haste slowly. She felt a reluctance to
trust great interests on the foundation of government patronage ;
for who could tell how long such patronage would last, or with
what steadiness, skill, or petseverance, it would continue to be
granted? Fifteen years ago, I ventured to express a serious
doubt, whether this government was fitted, by its construction, to
administer aid and protection to particular pursuits^ whether,
having called such pursuits into being, by indications of its fitvour,
it would not afterwards desert them, when troubles came upon
them, and leave them to their fate. Whether this prediction, the
result, certainly, of chance, and not of sagacity, will be fulfilled.
166 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
remains to be seen. At the same time it is true, that from the
very first commencement of the government, those who have
administered its concerns have held a tone of encouragement and
invitation towards those who should embark in manufactures.
All the presidents, without exception, have concurred in this gene*
ral sentiment ; and the very first act of congress, laying duties of
import, adopted the then unusual expedient of a preamble, appa-
rently for little other purpose than that of declaring, that the
duties which it imposed, were imposed for the encouragement and
protection of manufactures. When, at the commencement of the
late war, duties were doubled, we were told that we should find a
mitigation of the weight of taxation, in the new aid and succour
which would be thus afibrded to our own manufacturing labour.
Like arguments were urged, and prevailed, but not by the aid of
New England votes, when the tariff was afterwards arranged, at
the close of the war, in 1816. The act of 1824 received the sanc-
tion of both houses of congress, and settled the policy of the
country. What then was New England to do ? She was fitted for
manufacturing operations, by the amount and character of her
population, by her capital, by the vigour and energy of her free
labour, by the skill, economy, enterprise, and perseverance of her
people. Nothing was left to New England, after the act of 1824,
but to conform herself to the will of others. Nothing was left to
her, but to consider that the government had fixed and determined
its own policy; and that policy was protection.
^ New Englcmd, poor in some respects, in others is as wealthy as
her neighbours. Her soil would be held in low estimation by
those who are acquainted with the valley of the Mississippi, and
some of the meadows of the south. But in industry, in habits of
labour, skill, and in accumulated capital, the fruit of two centu-
ries of industry, she may be said to be rich. She had foreseen,
that if the system of protecting manufactures should be adopted, she
must go largely into them : a vast increase of investment in manu-
facturing establishments was the consequence. Those who made
such investments, probably entertained not the slightest doubt that
as much as was promised would be effectually granted ; and that
if, owing to any unforeseen occurrence, or untoward event, the
benefit designed by the law, to any branch of manufactures, should
not be realised, it would furnish a fair case for the consideration
of government. Certainly, they could not expect, after what had
passed, that interests of great magnitude would be left at the
mercy of the very first change of circumstances which might
occur." — Webster on the Tariff.
VALUE AND USES OF PROPEETY. 167
A comparative view of the weekly and yearly expenditure of an
flnglish and an American family, will show that the advantage,
with regard to the price of labour, is not so great as many have
represented.
The English labourer must be supported in a country where
rent and provisions are much higher than in the United States.
It may be asked, how does the English labourer get the money to
purchase this expenditure ? His expenditure has but one element,
it is \v^ork, his daily toil. He can neither beg nor steal. His
labour, or wages, must meet the whole expenditure. No matter
who pays it, in the first instance. He consumes so much value ;
whether his employer or the public advance this amount, is inmia-
terial. It costs as much to support the population of manu&cturing
establishments in England, as it does in America. He who em-
ploys this labour, receives directly the product, and must ulti-
mately pay the cost of it. Pauperism is a part of the English
system, and it is known, that almost all labourers are, to some
amount, one quarter, one half, three quarters, or all, supported by
enormous poor rates. These are paid by the employers of labour
and capital, and must, like wages paid directly to the labourer, be
charged on production, and paid by consumption. How different
the condition of American labourers ! Each &mily may lay up
two thirds of their wages, and still be in comfort and accommoda-
tion. They can do this, because the produce of land is so cheap.
Those who allege that we cannot manufacture so cheap as the
English, because we pay so much higher wages, should consider
that this is true in appearance only. If such apparent difference
resulted in that effect, how is it true that England can compete
with France 7 Labour is much higher, in its apparent price, in
England, than the same labour is in France. In America, machi-
nery is moved by water, the English by steam, and 160 in 161
manufacturing labourers are niachines. Proximity to our market
is a great advantage : the cost to carry the raw material abroad,
and to return the finished fabrics, are items of some consequence.
British manufiicturing labour affords no surplus saving, over and
above consumption; and can add nothing to national capital.
American labour can save one third of its wages, whereby to aug-
ment national capital.
Any day of the year, since 1824, the true Leeds and Manchester
prices current, of cotton and woollen cloths, have quoted them at
an equal, or higher price, than goods of the same quality, on the
same days, were sold on the same terms, at Providence. We do
not yet export much amount of woollens, but in cottons we under-
158 MEMOIR OP SAMUEL 8LATEB.
sell the English, in South American markets. In 1827 we paid
a duty of 15 per cent, ad valorem, and then sold our cottons, in
the Canadas, cheaper than the English, paying no duty, sell their
&brics of like quality.
The English have been at pains and cost, to obtain samples and
marks, of cloths made in Cumberland, Smithfield, N. Providencei
and Coventry, in Rhode Island ; and imitating these cloths, and
forging their marks, they have sent their fabrics to South America.
The American domestics are still distinguishable ; and, because of
a firmer fabric, sell more readily, and at better prices, than these
fraudulent imitations.
When manu&ctures began in this country, they began with
little skill, less capital, and imperfect machinery. They took
shelter under impost for encouragement. Aided by that, they
came into the market, and selling their products at, or nearly at|
the price of the English fabrics, with added importation and im*
post, they were able to meet the augmented expenditures incident
to incipient estabUshments, want of capital, want of skill, and
want of perfected machinery. Mr. Burgess said, in 1828 : — '' The
system is your great system of impost ; the vital principle of your
government, together with its acknowledged and inseparable con-
comitants, — breathed into this legislative, judicial, and executive
body, by the spirit of wisdom itself; this body then, and thereafter,
became a living, active, and efficient being. You would have
revenue * to support this government, pay the national debt, pro-
vide for the conmion defence and secure the general welfare.' The
constitution directed, and the laws have provided, that you should
raise it by impost. Unless you confine impost to such products
as your country does not, nor ever can produce, your impost will,
of necessity, by increasing the price of foreign, encourage the pro*
duction of domestic products of the same kind. As that impost,
by encouraging, increases the supply of domestic, the amount of
impost to sustain revenue must be increased. This reciprocal
increase of impost and encouragement, will finally have called
labour, skill, machinery, and capital, in such abundance, to the
aid of domestic production, that your market must be supplied
with whatever class of domestic products may thus have fidlmi
within the influence of impost. So soon as your market is sup-
plied from domestic production, impost must cease to be productive
of revenue ; because, when the market is supplied with the domes-
tic, there can be, for no fair purpose of purchase and sale, any
further importation of foreign products. Was it not, therefore,
just, when it was, of necessity, true, that the law of impost should
VALUE AND U8E8 OF PBOPEBTY. 169
have announced that all impost for revenue, on all articles within
the productive capabilities of our country, was also impost for
encouragement? If it was just, and of necessity true, then^
to make that announcement to this nation, is it not jmty and of
necessity true, noto, when it has been re-enacted and solemnly re-
peated, in the same manner, during a course of legislation, for the
term of almost forty years ? If, stimulated by that impost, operat-
ing that encouragement, millions of men, with millions of property,
have been labouring after skill, perfecting machinery, and col-
lecting capital, will you now, when they can supply the nation at
a less expense, and with as good a fiibric, — ^will you, I say, now
announce, that all you said then^ of encouragement, was fiibled
and &lse ; a stratagem to lure money into your coffers, and men
into ruin ? You published a system of impost for revenue, en-
couragement and protection. You knew that, when you had
received the last cent of your revenue, you would have been
perfectly paid for protection. The people of this nation have paid
the full and stipulated consideration to their government for her
full protection, on every item of domestic production. They do
not claim protection on this ground ; but they respectfully petition
to be protected on those products only, which they can, and
demonstrate that they can, supply at a cost much less than foreign
labour and capital can supply them."
In reflecting on the value and uses of property, I am aware
there are many conflicting opinions on this subject ; a great variety
of theories are proposed, many of them founded on the idea, that
the same principles will operate in relation to capital now, as it
would in the origin of society. It must be remembered, that the
state of society is formed, fashions and customs are fixed, and
with the present situation, it becomes us to ask, what are the value
and uses of properly ? To lay up in store in those years of plenty,
in order to provide for years of scarcity, was considered in Joseph
a maxim of profound wisdom, and practically was of immense
benefit to mankind. Where this power of accumulation exists
without infringing on the rights and necessities of others, it is
performing a work of public benefit ; filling store houses, as our
security against sudden emergencies and times of scarcity. These
are the value and uses of property, and in the present situation of
the United States, the capitalists form an important part of the
community ; they do not receive exorbitant interest in the general
works of improvement, but on the contrary, suffer great risks and
losses. Why should prejudices exist against individuals who are
160 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
willing to employ their money in works of public utility, which
afford means of wealth to others ?
On the subject of wages there is much said that to me is not
easily to be understood, much intricacy and such theories as are
impracticable, and that will not bear on the present state of society.
My simple idea has always been, that wages must be regulated
according to the demand, and according to the state of business.
It is Uable to depression, like the interest of money, or any other
article of commerce — it is far best to let it alone, it will regulate
itself; nothing like coercion can be allowed in a free country,
every individual must be left to act for himself; and this has
answered well, in its practical operation in every age of the world.
I read Mr. Carey with the hope of getting something definite on a
subject on which I do not profess to be a very proficient student
I was, however, somewhat disappointed in my examination of the
Essay on Wages,* but will let the author speak for himself.
*^ We may ssifely trust that population will limit itself, and that
the wisdom of the arrangements of the Deity in regard to man,
will be as evident as it is in every other part of the creation.
At the time Mr. Malthus formed his theory, he had but few facta
* This subject is attractlDg general notice, and it must necessarily become
more interesting, as the population and business transactions of the countrf
increase. As it is closely connected with the well being of the commuaitj,
the discussion ought to be conducted in a calm and dispassionate manner,
and every thing relating to it weighed with justice and judgment ; without par-
tiality and without hypocrisy ; without respect either to the poor or to the ricL
Something can be learned from the past experience of mankind, for likt
causes will produce like effects in every age and section of the world. Krerf
thing will find its level, and it is impossible to press it beyond its natural
course ; you may impede its regular progress, by artificial contrivances,
but it will burst through every obstruction, and break down every barrier
in its way. The less we legislate on this subject the belter ; labour masi
and will be paid according to the demand ; and you cannot raise wagesupoa
the large scale, no moie than you can raise the price of gold. However
precious and important it may be to the country^s prosperity, still there must
be a price, and that will be varied by circumstances, like the value of any
other article. Nothing can be ultimately gained by combinations and oppo-
sition of one class to the other, because such things are always met with
counteracting influences.
The state of business and of capital in the United States, prevents any
monopoly or advantage to the injury of the operatives, and nothing should
be done to discourage investments for the promotion of business and improve-
ment ; for without such arrangement of property, a stagnation must ensue,
and in such a case the labourers are the first who feel the effects, especially
those of them who do not save from their earnings to help them in time of
need.
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 161
in regard to civilised man, upon which it could be based.* The
experience of this^ country had been too short to enable him to use
* Since making the above extract, I have examined Malthus's '^ Essi^y on the
Principle of Population ; or, a view of its past and present effects on Human
Happiness ; with an enquiry into our prospects respecting the future removal
or mitigation of the evils which it occasions," — 2 vols. 8vo, third edition, —
and I cannot agree with Mr. Carey, that the author had not the facts of the
case before him, for in this respect he is very full and overpowering in his
argument.
His proposed remedy is self-denial, founded on purity and chastity ; he
recommends prudence, temperance, industry, and economy, and the exercise
of these is certainly a remedy against vice and misery. These virtues would
render it unnecessary to restrict population ; they would richly provide for
such a population, howevei numerous. It is but justice to let Malthus define
what he terms a moral restraint on population; he says, — "By moral
restraint, I would be understood to mean, a restraint from marriage from
prudential motives, with a conduct strictly moral during the period of this
restraint, and I have never intentionally deviated from this sense. When
I wished to consider the restraint from marriage unconnected with its conse-
quences, I have either called it prudential restraint, or a part of the preven-
tive check, of which it forms the principal branch. Tacitus describes the
inhabitants of ancient Germany, as not living in cities, or even admitting of
contiguous settlements. Every person surrounds his house with a vacant
. space, a circumstance, which, besides its beneficial effect as a security from
fire, is strongly calculated to prevent the generation, and check the ravages,
of epidemics. They content themselves almost universally with one wife.
Their matrimonial bond is strict and severe, and their manners in this
respect deserving the highest praise. They live in a state of well-guarded
chastity, corrupted by no seducing spectacles, or convivial incitements.
Adultery is extremely rare, and no indulgence is shown to a prostitute.
Neither beauty, youth, nor riches, can procure her a husband ; for none there
look on vice with a smile, or call mutual seduction the way of the world.
To limit the increase of children, or put to death any of the husband's blood,
IS accounted infamous, and virtuous manners have there more efficacy than
good laws elsewhere. Every mother suckles her own children, and does
not deliver them into the bands of servants and nurses. The youths partake
late of the sexual intercourse, and hence pass the age of puberty unexhausted.
Nor are the virgins brought forward. The same maturity, the same full
growth is required ; the sexes unite equally matched and robust, and the
children inherit the vigour of their parents. The more numerous are a
man's kinsmen and relations, the more comfortable is his old age, nor is it
any advantage to be childless.
" With these manners, and a habit of enterprise and emigration, which
would naturally remove all fears about providing for a family, it is difficult
to conceive a society with a stronger principle of increase in it ; and we see
at once that prolific source of successive armies and colonies against which
the force of the Roman empire so long struggled with difficulty, and under
which it ultimately sunk." — MaUhu9.
21
162 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
it with any advantage, and he was obliged to argue from the state
of man as he exists in the eastern hemisphere, ' checked like a
bondman,' fettered by laws and regulations, and oppressed by
claims for the support of government and of individuals. To argue
from facts thus obtained, is Hke constructing a theory of the tides
from a collection of observations on mill-dams. I am not awaie
of a fact in his book in regard to man in a state of civilisation, that
goes to support his theory, or that is not much better evidence
that man has been misgoverned, and his increase repressed there-
by, than that it has been repressed by inability of the earth to
afford him support.
'^ IJigh wages, or a large * fund for the support of the labouring
class,* in proportion to the extent of that class,' are an infallible
evidence of prosperity.
" National prosperity does not depend nearly so much on advaiin
tageous situations, salubrity of climate, or fertility of soil, as in
the adopting of measures fitted to excite the inventive powers of
genius, and to give perseverance and activity to industry. The
establishment of a wise S3^tem of public economy can compensate
for every other deficiency. It can render regions naturally inhos-
pitable, barren and unproductive, the comfortable abodes of an
elegant and refined, or crowded and wealthy, population. Bat
where it is wanting, the best gifis of nature are of no value ; and
countries possessed of the greatest capacities of improvement, and
abounding in all the materials necessary for the production of
wealth, with difficulty furnish a miserable subsistence to hordes dis-
tinguished only by their ignorance, barbarism, and wretchedness.
" As yet we know nothing of the productive pou'ers of the eardt
In an article on America, in the Encyclopedia Britannica, it is stat-
ed, that notwithstanding the difference in size between the eastern
and western continents the proportion of the former that is unfit
for cultivation, in consequence of sterility, or absence of water
communications, is so much ^ifreater that the latter is capable of
subsisting an equal population.
" The most fertile soils, miserably tilled, according to the pre-
scriptive rule of * follow my leader,' are every where found conti-
guous to examples of skiU and industry, which raise abundant
crops ; and the contented boor sits down to his starved reCnms,
quite satisfied with what rude implements, wasteful defects, and
ignorant blindness, have permitted him to gathej- like his prede-
cessors,
'' How difieient would it be, were the opposite course pursued!
were all the British empire, for instance, as ably and intelligently
VALIMB AND U8E8 OP PROPBRTY. 163
cultivated as the Lothians and lowlands of Scotland. Were Mr.
Lowe's practical lessons universally acted upon, we should then
hear no more of a surplus population beyond the supply of
food ; of the necessity of exporting our hearty peasantry to Aus-
tralian or other colonies ; of the dreadful sufferings of the labour-
ing poor. The honest toils of the field would largely supersede
the depraving employment of the workhouse ; and the reward of
those toils would be plenty of wholesome food to sustain the hum-
blest classes of our fellow-creatures. Such is the &ct in the
United States, pauperism and the workhouse in an evil sense is
unknown among us.
'^ Having done all in our power to make man poor and mise-
rable, — to prevent the growth of capital or any improvement in
his situation, and finding that there is a great deal of poverty in
the world, we enquire the cause, and find it arises out of a mistake
in the Deity, who fitted man to increase in a geometrical ratio, while
he permitted the fruits of the earth to increase in an arithmetical
ratio only, thus making poverty and misery inseparable accom-
paniments of the human race. This result is highly satisfactory
to us, as it transfers to the Deity what should rest upon our own
shoulders, and we then invent the starvation check ; discourage
matrimony that we may promote profligacy, and thus check popu-
lation ; while the earth is as yet, in a great measure, untouched,
and is capable of supporting thousands of millions, in those parts
where cultivation is almost unknown.
" The people of the United States have corn, and provisions
generally, very cheap. Tea and coffee are imported free of duty,
and are sold at a very small advance upon their cost at the places
of production. Sugar is at much smaller duty than in France
and England. Fuel is cheap. Most descriptions of manufactured
goods are higher than in England, particularly those of wool and
iron ; and, the rate of interest being higher, house rent is also
higher. Making allowances for these differences, it is probable
that the English labourer would be required to work sixteen days
to obtain the same amount of conunodities that would be obtained
by the American labourer in eleven days.
" In the United States, the situation of the labouring classes is
confessedly better than in any other nation whatever.
" Until within a very recent period, France has known littie of
the benefit of security, either of person or of property.
" Fettered and oppressed in every way, as France was, under
her despotic kings, the spirit of invention and enterprise could
never rise to those high conceptions, which of late years have
164 MEMOIR OP SAMUEL SLATER.
brought England and America to the summit of prosperitf.
Manufacturers, placed under the severe control of men who pur-
chased their offices from government, and who, therefore, exercised
them with rapacity, could not hazard any improvement, withoat
infringing the estabUshed regulations, and running the risk of
having their goods destroyed, burned, or confiscated. In every
trade, official regulations prescribed to workmen the methods of
working, and forbade deviation from them, under pain of the
most severe punishments. Ridiculous to say, the framer of these
statutes fancied he understood better how to sort and prepare wod,
silk, or cotton, to spin threads, to twist and throw them, than work-
men brought up to the trade, and whose livelihood depended on
their talent Habits of industry constitute a very important itnn
in the consideration of the causes which tend to increase or
diminish the product of labour, and, of course, the ftmd out of
which it is to be paid. In the United States, every inducement is
held out to industry. The people have the confidence that tbej
will have the enjoyment of almost the whole product of thdr
labour undiminished by taxation, and that moderate exertion, widi
economy, will lead to independence. As no people ever had
stronger inducements, so none ever pursued their avocations with
more earnestness.
"Nothing so nurtures virtue as the spirit of independence. The
poor should be assisted in providing for themselves.
" In Holland, the truths of poUtical economy were first acted
npon, and they brought with them a copious harvest of wealth.
Security and freedom and economy were looked to as the sources
of riches, as may be seen by the following passages from, a de-
scription of the policy of the republic, written nearly a century
since, in answer to inquiries respecting the state of trade, addressed
to the merchants of Holland by the stadtholder William IV. To
sum up all, amongst the moral and political causes of the same
flourishing state uf trade, may be likewise placed the wisdom and
prudence of the administration; the intrepid firmness of the
councils ; the faithfulness with which treaties and engagements
were wont to be fulfilled and ratified ; and particularly the care
and caution practised to preserve tranquillity and peace, and to
decline instead of entering on a scene of war, merely to gratify
the ambitious views of gaining firuitless or imaginary conquests.
By these moral and poUtical maTirnrg was the glory and the repu-
tation of the repubUc so far spread, and foreigners animated to
place so great a confidence in the steady determinations of a state
so wisely and prudently conducted, that a concourse of them
VALUE AND USES OP PROPERTY. ^ 166
Stocked this country with an augmentation of inhabitants and use-
ful hands, whereby its trade and opulence were from time to time
increased.
'' The above observations are at present applicable to the United
States. It has been seen that the United States are comparatively
free from those disturbing causes which impede the growth of
capital. With a vast body of land ; with mines of gold, lead, iron,
copper, and coal, abounding in every direction ; circulating capital
alone was wanting to bring them into activity, and the system has
tended to promote its rapid growth. Secure in person and property,
comparatively free from taxation, unrestrained in action, compara-
tively so in all matters of trade, and very industrious, the people
of this country, applying their labour in the way which they think
will produce the largest reward, find their capital rapidly augment-
ed ; the consequence of which is, that mines are opened in all
directions, new lands are brought into cultivation, rail-roads and
canals are constructed, and machinery is applied in every way to
increase the produce of labour. Capital flows from all quarters to
this country, where it can be best paid for, and, increasing the de-
mand for labour, finds employment, not only for the vast natural
increase of population, but for great numbers who are led to seek
here an improvement of their condition. The fund out of which
the labourer is paid, is larger, and his wages are consequently
greater, than in any other country. It is in a very high degree
satisfactory to see that this arises out of circumstances peculiar to
the United States, and that there is no reason to believe that any
increase which may take place in the extent of their population,
can make it otherwise, while adhering to the present system.
''By the following statements the reader will be enabled to com-
pare the rate of money wages of England and the United States.
'' The number of persons employed in the cotton manufacture
of the United States, is thus stated in the memorial of the New
York convention, 1832:— males, 18,539 ; females, 38,927 ; child-
ren, 4,691 ; hand weavers, 4,760 ; in all, 66,917 ; total wages,
$10,294,944, equal to $3 or 12s. 6d. per week. In the History of
the Cotton Manu&cture, by Mr. Baines, (p. 511,) the above amount
of wages is taken, but the children and hand weavers are omitted,
by which the number of operatives is reduced to 57,466, and the
wages are thereby made to appear to be 14s. lid. per week. Mr.
Raines's reasoning in relation to the comparative wages of the
United States and England, is thereby vitiated.
" It is to be regretted, that the gentleman by whom the report was
drawn up, did not give the average wages of men, women, and
166 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
children. As they have not done so, we must endeavour to esti-
mate them.
18,539 men, at $5 per week, would be 92,695
3b,927 women, at ^2 per week, 77,864
4,691 children, at $1,75 per do. 8,211
4,760 hand weavers, at $4 per do. 19,040
$197,800
52 weeks, at $197,800 each, would be $10,285,600, being nearly
the amount given in the report.
'< In the above it will be observed that only about seven per
cent are termed children, and even those are much above the age
at which children are employed in England. At Lowell, the
number employed below sixteen is very small, and none below
twelve. In the Lawrence factory at that place, out of 1000 females,
only 129 are below seventeen, and of the males, there are twenty-
eight below that age, or who may properly be styled children, can-
not exceed eight per cent, of the whole number employed, which
is 1160.
<' In a summary of the returns to the questions of the &ctory
commissioners, of 151 owners of cotton mills, in Lancashire,
Cheshire, and Derbyshire, for five weeks, ending May 1833, it is
•stated, that out of 48,645 persons employed, 20,084 are under
eighteen years of age. The average wages in these mills, are
10s. 5d. {Baines, p. 371.)
<^ In an estimate of the number of persons employ^ in the cot-
ton mills of England, the total number is given at 212,800, of
whom 43,703 are under fourteen years of age, and 39,554 between
fourteen and eighteen. One half of the latter being deducted, the
total number employed below sixteen years, would be 63,480, or
30 per cent, of the whole quantity. Notwithstanding the vastly
greater quantity of inferior labour thus used, wages are estimated
at 10s. 6d. per week, or within two shillings of what was paid in
the United States in 1832.
Dr. James Mitchell was employed under the factory conunis-
sioners to draw out tables, showing the wages, health, &c., of the
factory operatives, and the results of some of the principal cotton
mills, embracing 7614 operatives, are as follow: — {Baines,p. 437).
J.415 males below 16, 2355 males above 16, giving above 36 per
cent, below the age at which children are usually employed here.
As wages differ very much with age, and as it is to be supposed
YAhVZ AND USES OF PROPERTY. 167
that the efficiency of the labourer is in proportion to the wages re-
ceived, the only fair mode of comparing those of the United States
and England, is to strike of all whose ages are below that at which
they are here employed. The average wages of persons above
sixteen, in those factories, as given by Dr. Mitchell, are as follows :
2355 males, 16s. 3d.
2566 females, 8s.
4921 — ^general average 12s.
or within 6d. as much as the average of the estimate furnished by
the New York convention. It may be said, that seven per cent,
of the labourers employed in the United States being below six-
teen, there should be some allowance made therefor, but they are
generally so little below that age, that any allowance would have
small effect upon the result.
'' The great disproportion that exists between the two countries,
in the emplojrment of male and female labour, cannot fail to strike
the reader. In England, the females exceed the males by only about
9 per cent., while in the United States they exceeded them, agreeably
to the above statement, by above 110 per cent. Since that time,
great improvements have taken place in machinery, increasing the
proportion of females very greatly. At first sight, it might be
supposed that this should cause wages to be lower here, the labour
of men being generally more productive than that of women, and
that this would be an offset to the number of children employed
in England. Such is not, however, the case, women being employ-
ed herty because every thing is done to render labour productive,
while there a large portion of the power of the male operatives is
wasted. By the above statement, it is shown that in the United
States, there were only 4760 hand weavers in the year 1832, and
the number can hardly be supposed to have increased. From the
great influx of emigrants from Ireland, it is probable that there
will be, for a long time to come, an equaj number ; but the modes
of employment are so numerous, that a large number must be an-
nually absorbed. On the 1st January, 1835, there were in the
town of Lowell 5051 power looms, Or more, by nearly 300, than
the whole number of hand looms in this country.
'^ The whole number of power looms in Great Britain is esti-
mated by Baines, p. 238, to be 100,000.
" I think it must be evident to the reader, that any difference in
wages that may exist between England and the United States,
must arise out of its better application in the latter. The perfec-
tion to which machinery has been brought, enables the proprietor
168 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
to avail himself much more extensively of female labour than is
the case in Europe. The labour of the females, as shown, is nmch
more productive, and they consequently receive higher wages.
The males, not being compelled to compete with machinery, are
enabled to apply their powers in other ways that are more produC'
tive, and as a consequence, when they marry, the necessity for the
employment of their wives and young children in factories is un-
known. A further consequence is, that all parents have it in their
power to obtain education for their children, and the children have
time to receive it. A still further consequence is, that the state of
morals at Lowell, Dover, Providence, and its vicinity, and other
places where extensive factories exist, is such, as is almost utterly
unknown in any other parts of the world, and constitutes a pheno-
menon in the moral, equal to that of Niagara in the natural
world.
^' Of one thousand females in the Lawrence factory at Lowell,
there are but eleven who are married. There are nineteen widows.
The following passage from a statement furnished by a gentleman
who has charge of one of the principal establishments in LoweU,
shows a very gratifying state of things. * There have only oc-
curred three instances in which any apparently improper connec-
tion or intimacy had taken place, and in all those cases the parties
were married on the discovery, and several months prior to the
birth of their children ; so that in a legal point of view, no illegi-
timate birth has taken place among the females emplo]^ in the
mills under my direction. Nor have I known of but one case
among all the feniales employed in Lowell. I have said known —
I should say heard of one c€ise. I am just informed that this was
a case where the female had been employed but a few days in any
mil], and was forthwith rejected from the corporation, and sent to
her friends. In point of female chastity, I believe that Loweli
is as free from reproach as any place of an equal population in the
United States or the world. At the great establishment at Dover,
New Hampshire, I have been assured there has never been a case
of bastardy. Let this be compared with the statements of the poor
law commissioners, and it will go far to show that the means which
tend to promote the increase of wealth, tend also to the promotion
of morality, and, as a necessary consequence, of happiness. There
can be no doubt, that with a dijfferent system, there would in time
arise, in the factories of England, a similar state of things. There
are, even now, some similar cases to be found in England, proving
how much good may be done, where the owners are disposed to do
VALUB AND USES OP PROPERTY. 169
what is in their power to promote the cause of morality ; and that
can be done most efiectually by being moral ourselves.
" Amongst the great numbers of factory operatives emplo3red
under William Grant, Esq., at Ramsbottom, England, only one case
of female misconduct has occurred in the space of twenty years,
and that was a farmer's daughter.
" The necessity for the passage of ' Factory Bills,' does not
exist in this country. In England, by interferences of all kinds,
the parents are oppressed and reduced to the necessity of sending
their children to work at the earliest possible age; and then it
becomes necessary to interfere anew, to prevent the children from
bearing too much of the burden. In the United States, on the
contrary, it is so desirable to have efficient hands, that the owners
are not disposed to employ children at too young an age, and thus,
while the excellent situation of the labourer renders it unnecessary,
the interest of the employer would tend to prevent it, should idle-
ness or dissipation lead the parent to desire it." — Carejfs Essay on
Wages,
Those who desire a wise and fair distribution of property must
conspire to be economical ; to save their wages ; to produce the
most useful kinds of property ; to create something that will last,
and may be beneficially distributed ; instead of working for trash,
and where no work is wanted ; being servants where no servants
are required ; grinding where there is nothing to grind ;* drawing
for water where there is no water. They must cease to produce
or use that immense amount of trinkets, finery, fashionable trifles,*
dainties, and poisonous drinks, with which our persons are deco-
rated, our groceries, stores, cellars, kitchens, pantries, and houses,
are now too often crammed. This is not the kind of property
that wise people wish to be distributed ; nor is it property at all in
their eyes; so far as this kind of property is imported from foreign
nations, and paid for by our products, it is certain that we may
substitute the more usefiil productions of those nations for this
trash.
But how can the farmers, mechanics, labourers in manufacto-
* Daring the war of the reyolation, General Lafayette, being at Baltimore,
was incited to a ball ; he went as requested, but instead of joining in the
amusements, as might be expected of a young Frenchman, he addressed the
ladies, — "You are very handsome; you dance yery prettily; your ball is
very fine ; but my soldiers have no #AtW#." The appeal was irresistible ;
the ball ceased, the ladies ran home and went to work, and in a few days, a
large number of shirts were prepared, by the fairest hands in Baltimore, for
the gallant defenders of their country.
22
170 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL 8LATEK.
ries, and other common labourers, help working to produce this
kind of property 1 They say that they must have employmenly
must earn wages ; and if the rich merchaiit, capitalist, and manu-
facturer, chooses to manufacture it, or import it from foreign coun-
tries, what means of prevention have they?
The answer is plain. They can cease to use it, to buy it, to
pay their wages and earnings for it to the rich capitalist and manu-
facturer. As they are the consumers of nine tenths of it, they
would soon put an end to the production, if they ceased to be cus-
tomers for it. It is by not combining and using their power in
this way, as they certainly can, that they defeat the just distribu-
tion of property, and keep themselves down. Thus they make
the rich richer than they should be, and the poor poorer than they
need be; thus we see the poor playing into the hands of the rich^
and throwing their solitary hard-earned sixpences and shillings
into others' heaps, where there are already thousands. Thus we
see them running from tavern to tavern, from store to store,
emptying their pockets into those of men who are ten times richer
than themselves. AH the legislatures in the world cannot prevent
this ; the people alone can do it.
It is plain, that as wealth is created by labour, it can only be
increased by saving and economy. By the same means that one
man becomes independent, a hundred and a thousand do, and the
same is trtie of a nation ; that is, by keeping on band for future
use, what has already been acquired, or some portion of it ; because
all cannot be preserved ; a part must be daily eaten, drank, worn
out, or consumed in some way or other.
It is in the nature of wealth to increase, and this is plainly
proved by showing what the uses of capital are. One animal
breeds many, one seed produces a hundred or a thousand. Our
own experience in this country, shows an increase of wealth
beyond what the world ever saw under the like circumstances,
and commands us to go forward. We see, every year, new
sources of wealth opened, labour-saving machines invented ; new
substances or combinations of them brought to light, and turned
to some useful account, never before thought of. Steam, gas>light,
granite, anthracite coal, India rubber, soap stone, railroads, canals,
&c. furnish new employments, and of course increased wealth, to
thousands who but a few years since did not dream of deriving
advantage from any of them, and perhaps did not know of their
existence.
If these things are the means by which people are fed and
clothed, and get good fieurms, and houses and cattle, and afler
VALOB AND U8B8 OF PROPERTY. 171
obtaining a reasonable independence for themselves, are able, out
of their superfluous riches, to get leisure and money to enable
them to carry light, iaiowledge, and comfort, to their poor neigh-
bours, and to the miserable nations, how unwise and unthinking
to declaim against the increase of wealth ! It would be as childish
to talk against too much good land, too many good houses, too
many fine cattle. It is the perversion of wealth from the uses
designed for it, that we have to deplore ; it is the heaping up of
our meagre stores by monopoly and every kind of oppression, in
the laps of a few, thus causing poverty and universal nakedness
among the multitude, that the world ought to be ashamed of. It
is the vanity, pride, selfishness, gluttony, intemperance, of both
rich and poor, that we are to withstand. Wealth can never be an
evil but by being turned to unnatural purposes, and an ancient
philosopher says with truth, "that it is not the liquor but the
vessel which is corrupted.*'
These subjects are no longer mysteries, when people give their
thoughts to them; people are more puzzled about words than
things ; they are often acquainted with the things, but do not
understand the signs. — Sedgwick.
True religion lies at the foundation of all wholesome and per-
manent increase of wealth. Political economy professes to point
out all the principles by which wealth is gained, the surest of all
is the observance of moral precepts. The divine rule of doing to
others as we would be done by, forbids all oppression, all cruelty to
the poor, all unlawful taxes to support the pride, vanity, and luxury
of the rich. Nothing is more striking in tho scriptures, than the
constant condenmation of all injustice to, and robbery of, the poor,
who are the labourers for small wages. The Christian religion
equally forbids, on the part of the poor, all hatred of the rich-— all
wanton destruction of property. There always have been rich
and poor — there must be rich and poor. The people have been
most miserable in those countries where there are no rich. The
first duty of the rich to the poor, then, is, not to give them bread
— for it is better that they should earn it — but the same legal
advantages of getting bread that they themselves have. To attempt
to teach economy without reference to our religious duty, is like
taking the picture of a man from a corpse. Do the people of the
United States desire to bring forth the magnificent riches which
are to be found in the natural advantages of their coiintry and
free government; to elevate themselves to an eminence which
nations have never yet thought of; do they long for the pleasures
and glories of science, the delights of charity to their own poor
172 MEMOIR OP SAMUEL SLATER.
and uninstructed, and to the wretched of other countries ; a better
and more equal education for their children ; to increase their
hospitality and social pleasures; to save their paternal houses and
estates from a decay and ruin so common and so disgraceful in
the old states ; do those whose interest it is to emigrate to the new^
wish for the means of making such a change ; do the men, women,
and children, desire more rest and time for a proper improvement
of their minds, — then both rich and poor must first unite, discard
their jealousies and feuds, get what good they can out of the old
world, turn their backs upon the stupid fashions and foUies
imported by nearly every packet, and study the proper economy
of their own country — of the new world. Those especially who
live upon wages, as journeymen mechanics, labourers in factories,
and day labourers of every description, must learn to save their
wages, and thus preserve property, which is the true and common
sense way of changing their condition for the better, and which
can never be done, as long as they are slaves of fashion.
^^ There is an abundant increase of intelligence and moral sen-
timent springing up among the factories in England: the fruits of
Sunday-schools and other philanthropic establishments, — ^planted
and upreared chiefly by the workpeople themselves, unaided by
opulence, and unpatronised by power. It is a sublime spectacle to
witness crowds of factory children arranged in a Sunday school.
I would exhort the friends of humanity, who may chance to pass
through Cheshire or Lancashire, not to miss a Sunday's visit to
the busy town of Stockport, which joins these two counties. It
contains 67 factories, in which 21,489 operatives, of all ages, are
employed comfortably for their families. The Sunday-school of
this place was erected by the voluntary contributions, chiefly, of
mill owners, in the year 1805. It is a large, plain, lofty building,
which cost 10,000/., having a magnificent hall for general exami-
nations and public worship on the uppermost story, capable of
accommodating nearly 3,000 persons, besides upwards of forty
comfortable apartments for the male and female schools, conunittee
and library rooms on the other floors. On the 16th of June in the
above year, the committee, teachers, and children, of the existing
Sunday schools, assembled on the elevated site of the new building
to celebrate, in a solemn manner, the commencement of this noble
enterprise; the foundation stone having been laid the evening
before. Many thousand inhabitants of the town and neighbour-
hood having joined them, the whole multitude raised their voices
in a hymn of praise to the Father of light and life, in which they
were accompanied by a fall band of music. The treasurer then
VALUE AND USES OP PROPERTT. 173
pronounced a solemn prayer, dedicating the intended edifice to
Grod, and imploring his blessing on its objects. In a concluding
address he said : — ' Our meeting together this day, on this spot, has
nothing in it of parade or show ; nothing that can allure the ey^
by its splendour, or beguile the imagination by its pomp. It is,
neyertheless, of the highest importance to the rising generation, to
the town of Stockport, and as far as its influence extends, to the
nation. We meet to erect a perpetual standard against ignorance
and vice, to confirm, and render permanent, an establishment
intended to train up the children of this town in knowledge and
virtue. We erpect thousands of children will here be taught not
only the grounds of human science, but the first principles of the
Christian religion ; that religion which is the true source of all
sound morality, of all public and private virtue. This building
is to be erected and maintained on the principle of pure and genu-
ine benevolence, and is intended to consecrate as much of the piety
and charity of this town as will supply a succession of gratuitous
teachers. I feel happy to declare, thus publicly, the sentiments of
the committee, that this building is not to be confined to any sect
or party ; nor to be under any exclusive direction or influence.
Learning is intended to be put in its proper place, as the hand-
maid of religion ; and whatever human science is taught, is to be
rendered subservient to this important purpose.'
'^ In the annual report of this admirable institution for 1833, the
committee state, 'that, since its commencement, the names of
«
40,850 scholars have been inscribed on our registers, a consider-
able part of whom have received a moral and religious education
within our walls. Part of the fruit of these pious labours is
already reaped in a temporal point of view, in the general decorum
that pervades this town and neighbourhood, and the regard for
the liberties, lives, and properties of others, evinced by the Stock-
port population, at a period of political excitement, in which they
were too much disregarded at other places. The well-judged
liberality of the public has now made Sunday schools so numerous
in our borders, that it is hardly possible to approach the town of
Stockport, in any direction, without encountering one or more of
these quiet fortresses, which a wise benevolence has erected
against the encroachments of vice and ignorance. The advocates
of general education hear no more of the danger of educating the
lowest classes ; on the contrary, the necessity of doing so is gene-
rally insisted upon. The people are extravagantly complimented
upon the proficiency they have already made, and appear to be in
as much danger of suflfering from the effects of artfol and ii^dicious
174 M£MOIR OP SAMUEL SLATER.
flattery, as they have done, in times past, from the unnatural
n^Iect with which they have been treated.'
<< In 1835 there were from 4,000 to 5,000 young people profiting
by the instructions administered by 400 teachers, distributed into
proper classes, and arranged in upwards of forty school rooms,
besides the grand hall in the top of the building. It was pleasing
to see 1500 boys, and as many girls, regularly seated upon sepa-
rate benches : the one sit on the right side, and the other on the
left. They were becomingly attired, decorous in deportment, and
of healthy, even blooming, complexions. Their hymn-singing
thrilled through the heart like the festival chorus ojf Westminster.
The organ, which was excellent, was well played, by a jroung man
who had lately been a piecer, in the spinning factory of the gen-
tleman." — Urt^s Philosophy of Manufactures.
A collection of &cts, evincing the benefactions of the arts
and manufactures to agriculture, commerce, navigation and the
fisheries, and their subserviency to the public defence, with an
indication of certain existing modes of conducting them, peculiarly
important to the United States, may be found in a conununicatkm
to Mr. Gallatin, by Tench Coxe.
" The resolution of Congress, 19th March, 1812, is formed widi
a view so comprehensive as to include all pertinent informati<m
of an authentic character, while it allows the most convenient
latitude, as to the form and manner ; requiring only, that the state-
ment shall so exhibit the matter as to be most conducive to the
interests of the United States. It is considered as a very intere8^
ing and fundamental truth, that manufactures facilitate the first
struggles of the American settlers, for decent comforts, thrifty
profits, and fiurming establishments.
^< On examination into the state of manufactures, in four several
sparsely settled districts of our country, which, in 1810, had been
recently laid out, according to the nature of the places, for fiiture
establishments as counties, the inconsiderable population within
these four intended counties exhibits the infantine condition of
their respective settlements in that year. In these new and widely
scattered settlements, where foreign consumers have no agents, the
presence of flax, and of sheep and cattle, supplying wool, hides,
skins, horns and tallow, with other materials for manufactures,
that is to say, the presence of the raw materials^ occasions the cor-
responding manufactures. In such places, profit, comfort and
necessity appear to invite, or rather to compel, the farmers and
their families to that mode of industry.
" In these new and wi4ely scattered settlements, it is observed.
VALUE AND U8E8 OF PBOPBRTT. 175
that the surplus industry of these new settlements is applied to the
manufacture of cotton, from the Atlantic, Ohio, and Mississippi.'^
'' A material error seems to have prevailed, on the subject of
manufisu^tures, in southern scenes. It has been supposed, that
manufactures could not arise or exist in the southern states of
America, and this, it is believed, has produced some local preju-
dice. Catalonia, Biscay, Valencia, Segovia and Guadalaxara, in
Spain ; the district of Lyons, and Languedoc, in France ; Genoa;
Venice, the principality of Tuscany, and Italy in general ; the
peninsula of India in particular, and the southern moiety and
warm districts of China, were more early distinguished in manu-
&ctures than the districts in the latitude of the centre of Europe,
and north of that centre. It was an exemption from the rigours
and terrors of the inquisition and other ecclesiastical evils, in the
south of Europe, which drew the objects of those fears and perse-
cutions into Silesia, Saxony, Prussia, Westphalia, the Hanse
towns, Holland and England. In Asia, where ecclesiastical ter-
rors and persecutions have not occasioned such a dispersion of
the manufacturers, they remain in and near the district which
produces the cotton and silk that employ them. The numerous
holidays of the church of Rome, which prevail in Italy, Spain,
Portugal, Austria and France, have been unfavourable to general
and manufacturing industry in the southern parts of Europe ; where
the useful arts early appeared and flourished. Where industry i»
free, it is believed that the manu&cturers will gather at the sources
of raw materials, food, forage, fuel, and building materials. The
British interruption of our coasting trade is forcing these princi-
ples into operation, in a manner peculiarly injurious to the eastern
and northern manufacturers of southern cotton, tobacco, iron,
wood, hemp and wool. Southern produce, capable of manufac-
ture, obstructed in its way to the European and northern United
States' markets, will prove to be a southern manufacturing capital ;
forcing itself into employment upon the estates, and in the vicini-
ties of the planters and farmers. The columns of ' looms — value
of all kinds of cloths and stufls — stockings, bagging for cotton,
spinning wheels, batteries, furnaces, forges, bloomeries, naileries,
blacksmitheries, tanneries, spirits, beer, cabinet wares, tobacco and
snuflf, cables and cordage, gunpowder and salt,' demand a careful
inspection and consideration, in order to ascertain the extent
and proportionate importance, in A. D. 1810, of manu&ctures,
in those states which are inhabited, in part by blacks, and which
lie on the south side of the common line of Pennsylvania on the
one part, and Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia on the other.''
176 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL BLATEB.
*^ It is a Hianifest truth, to which we ought most seriously to
advert, that besides the proper or corporal powers, industry and
skill of the people of the United States, we have attained, by water,
steam, cattle, labour-saving machinery, and power and skill, a
great variety and number of manufacturing operations. These
wonderful machines, working as if they were animated beings,
endowed with all the talents of their inventors, labouring with
organs that never tire, and subject to no expense of food, or bed,
or raiment, or dwelling, may be justly considered as equivalent to
an immense body of manu&cturing recruits, suddenly enlisted in
the service of the country.
^^ Machinery and processes to effect manufactures, so as to leave
manual industry for other employments, are of a degree of import-
ance to the United States, proportioned to the smallness of the
average population on a square mile. This is an interesting iact
to a nation enjoying an extensive territory. As we possess inna-
merable contrivances, put into operation by horse power, to tarn
up and break the soil and cover the seed grain, under the names
of the plough, the harrow, and the roller, to our incalculable profit,
some have water-mills, wind-mills, and steam engines, in numer-
ous instances and of diversified forms, to manufacture boards,
bark, powder, flour, bar and sheet iron, nails, wire, carded wool
and cotton, yarn and thread, metal plates of every kind, hair pow-
der, snuff, gunpowder, paper, cannon, muskets, scythes, bolts,
stocking web, various cloths and printed and other goods. Thess
and many other machines have been obtained from abroad, or de-
rived firom the actual and very considerable talents of our own citi-
zens. The complicated silk mill, the earliest invention for malring
yum or thread, the fulling mill and various other mechanical con-
structions, were acquired by the British, the greatest manufacturing
nation at this time in Europe, from their neighbours of Italy. Tlw
wisdom of the world has been and is as fairly attainable by ns,
as by other industrious and qualified nations, and the inventive
genius of the people of the United States has produced a great
number of curious and valuable instruments and machines."
^^ The fine arts, particularly painting and sculpture, have beau-
tified the manufactures of alabaster, marble, clay, plaster and
metals, and of wool, linen, cotton and leather. The fine porcelain
of France and Saxony, the statues and paintings of Greece and
Rome, the modern imitations of them in paintings, statues and
casts, the elegant miniatures of alabaster, its various flowers and
ornaments, the improvements iu composition and in the pottery of
Wedgwood, the imitations of the antique vases and figures in
VALUE AND USES OP PROPERTY. 177
various gold and silver ornaments and utensils, and indeed of
brass, the tapestry of the Gobelins, embroidery, dyeing, engraving
and the printing of linen, cotton and silken cloths, are among the
numerous examples that crowd up6n the mind. The fluctuations
and disorders of the old world have occasioned innumerable
transfers of the instruments, the libraries, the models, the works,
the welcome agents and the lovers of the fine arts from thence to
the United States, and the manufacturers of fine wool from their
proper original countries. The eflfect of such transfers, of much
that was foreign, and all that was necessary for the interesting
cultivation of the fine arts, either in their distinct and separate
character and form, or as pleasing and beneficial auxiliaries to the
useful arts and manufactures, are manifest to the attentive ob-
server. The works of human genius and cultivation, which
belong to the elegant and magnificent class of the arts, have a
very considerable effect upon the convenience, utility, and profits
of those things, which are usually called manufactures. A know-
ledge of architecture is necessary even to the cheapness of con-
struction."*
* This work was so far arranged and limited, before I came to Philadel-
phia, that I find it difficult to use much valuable matter that I have since
obtained ; which also includes notices of individuals whose praise ought to
be in history. The writings and indefatigable life of Tench Coxe, would
require and richly deserve a volume to do justice to his memory. The
notice that I have given, is far too scanty to afford even a slight view of his
important services, in the establishment of manufactories ; and his exertions
to promote the growth of cotton, both of which objects he lived to see in a
flourishing degree of progress. In an enlarged edition, a more extended
view of the services of this eminent statesman shall be given ; and I
very much regret the obligations, which prevent my enriching the work, in
this impression, with a review of his publications, containing extracts from
his writings, which not only fulfilled valuable purposes at the time, receiving
the approbation of Washington, Hamilton, Jefierson, Jay, Ames, and indeed
of the whole community ; but they contain principles, on national economy,
that will live for ever, and their author will be had in respectful remem-
brance. I find no author on American statistics, but what is deeply indebted
to Tench Coxe. I have no doubt but that the chartered company of Pater-
son, New Jersey, though the plan is generally attributed to Hamilton, origin-
ated with the assistant secretary of the treasury ; this is proved by the letter
of Fisher Ames. '
For the following statement I am indebted to Dr. James Mease, of
Philadelphia.
^*In order to make an experiment in manufactures, and to ascertain whe-
ther this could be carried on to profit, a company was formed, with a
capital of $ 200,000, in the year 1791, under the name of " The Society for
the Establishment of Useful Manufactures ;" and received a chartei bearing
23
178 MEMOIR OF 8AMU£L SLATER.
The following correspondence will show, what I have before
stated, that the administration of Washington was greatly in-
debted to the assistant secretary of the treasury, for important
and extensive views of conmiercial afiairs, as well as for a correct
digest of all the great resources of the country ; also for statistics
of the operations of manufactures : in short, for all that kind of
information, which are the foundation principles of the wealth of
nations. The services of Tench Coxe were viewed in this light
by Washington, Hamilton, and Jefferson, and they will be held in
high respect by posterity.
Philadelphia, November 30, 1789.
Dear Sir, — It was my wish to have forwarded to you sooner, the enclond
paper. No. 6, by way of answer to the queries I had the honour to receife
from you, the 26th of last month, but I could not revise the facts with aoffi-
cient care, till this time.
You will observe, I have pursued a mode different from that which the
fonn of the queries pointed out, thinking that " a present state of the nan-
gation of Pen ttM^lr ania,^' which should comprehend the information yon
desired, would be more useful than short answers, going merely to the pointi
specified. I have, besides, this private reason, that I wish by these investi-
gations and statements, as they occur, to extend or digest my own knowledge,
and, as far as I am able, to place the several subjects in my own mind oil
their true principles.
As the gentlemen in the senate, for Pennsylvania, and some of those ift
the house of representatives, have been pleased to request my communications
date 22d November, of that year, from the state of New Jersey, from whieh
the company purchased the title to the falls of Passaic river, and were in-
vested with the sole power over, and possession of, the waters of that
stream, for mills or manufactures. The society soon after established the
first cotton factory and printing house, in that stale ; but in a short time
found that a loss attended their business, and it is more than probable that
from this circumstance, a cessation would soon have taken place of their
operations, had they not been forced to give them up, from the following
cause. As there were no native workmen to be had, the company were
obliged to employ foreigners, who were either expressly sent for, or, more
probably, found in New York. Without any assignable cause, the foreman
expressed to the manager of the concern, his determination to leave the
establishment, when fully employed: and as no persuasion appeared to have
the least effect in altering his determination, he was desired to pack up the
machinery. This he did, but filled the vacant spaces with quick -lime, so
that when they were examined, the iron work, and particularly the cards,
were found entirely destroyed.
" This fact I had many years since, from the late Hon. Elias Boudinot, a
representative in congress, from New Jersey, who was a stockholder in the
company."
VALUE AND USES OP PROPERTY. 179
on the subjects that from time to time aiise in the legislature, I have taken
the liberty to show this paper to one or two of them ; and indeed it seems to
be a matter, both of propriety and prudence, as I am a citizen of Pennsyl-
vania, and they are the guardians of her interests. I anxiously desire the
detection of any errors in either the facts or reasonings, which I may bring
forward ; and in order completely to guard against their ill effects, I wish
them unreservedly subjected, as well to the examination of these well
informed judges, as to gentlemen of similar character and stations from the
other states. As I may, in future, avail myself of the permission you have
given me, to communicate with you as I shall see occasion, I apply these
wishes to all such communications, leaving it in your discretion to determine
to whose eye observations on points that require secresy may be safely
confided.
I have the honour to be, with great respect, dear sir, your most obedient
servant, Tench Coxe.
P.S. As it may throw some light upon the subject, I have enclosed a
paper of mine, (No. 1,) which you have seen before. To this copy, I have
added some manuscript notes; also a paper, (No. 2), to which I have like-
wise added some notes. The latter is not immediately interesting to your
present enquiry, but may be thrown among your documents belonging to the
subject.
7b the Honourable Alexander Hamilton, Esq. New York,
Philaoelphia, December 16th, 1789.
Dear Sir, — A few days ago I forwarded to you, per post, a " state of our
navigation," which I presume you have received. I have the honour to trans-
mit you in this inclosure some notes upon two subjects, one of them of great
importance, that may be useful when arranging our affairs with France and
Spain. The rough draughts of these papers were made a few weeks before I
received your letter, and I then intended to have given them to Mr. Madison
in his way to New York, for the purpose of submitting them to Mr. Jefferson,
in whose department I thought they might be of use. The general request
at the conclusion of your letter justifies me, I hope, in troubling you with
them, and in requesting that you will dispose of them as you see fit.
On No. 7, 1 beg leave to suggest, it may be useful to converse with Col.
J. Wadsworth, whose opportunities in the branch it concerns are greater
than those of any other person among us.
Of the subject of No. 8 it may be truly said, that it is one of the most
important objects of business in all our affairs. The calculations you will
find are all within the truth, and of course the result on paper might have
been rendered much greater.
I congratulate you most sincerely on the adoption of the constitution by
North Carolina, which almost completes this wonderful revolution. The
law of New Jersey abolishing the tender of their paper money, in cases
wherein gold and silver have been specified in the contract, occasions a
further subtraction from the objects, and of course a new inducement to the
acquiescence of the opposition. The federal cause has received a fresh
confirmation by our convention, for I think it may be justly said, that every
recognition of the principles of the general constitution, and erery step
180 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
towards an efficient and well balanced government by any member of the
Union, is a furtherance of the object. It has been determined, —
1. That the legislative power ought not to be in a single house.
2. That the judges, in addition to their former independence from fixed
salaries, should be appointed during good behaviour — with some proyisioDi
for removal in case of a decay of talents, or of private virtue. This importr
ant and difficult clause is not yet digested.
3. That the executive power should be in a single person.
4. That the chief executive officer should have a qualified negative upon
the proceedings of the legislature.
Messrs. Finlay, Smiley, and M^Lene, who led the opposition to the federal
constitution, have been in the majority which passed these resolutions. It
is, therefore, almost certain that the constitution of Pennsylvania, which
was the great cause of our opposition to the proceedings of the general
convention, will be altered in these important particulars. How near to tht
standard of propriety, which the gentlemen have formed for themselvet|
they will be able to arrive, is uncertain, for so very democratic have been
our former ideas, and so much does a jealousy of the city prevail in the
counties, that it must be expected they will influence in some particulars.
I beg your pardon for this digression from the original design of my letter,
but the proceedings of each state even in its own arrangements are of so moeh
importance to the order of the whole, that I thought the information I have
given would not appear impertinent to the business of your office.
I have the honour to be, very respectfully, sir, your most obedient humble
servant, Tench Coze.
Tlie Hon, A. Hamilton^ Esq.
New York, December 24th, 1789.
Dear Sir, — Your obliging favours of the 30th of November, and 16th
instant, with the communications accompanying them, have been duly
received.
Accept my best acknowledgments for the attention you have paid to my
request ; and believe that I mean not a mere compliment, when I say that
your compliance with it has procured me much useful information, and
many valuable observations.
I have not leisure to add more, than that I am, with sincere esteem and
regard, dear sir, your obedient servant, A. Hamilton.
Tench Coxey Esq.
New York, May 1st, 1790.
Dear Sir, — I have just received your letter of the 27th of April. Yours
of the 6th of the same month also came to hand in due time ; though pecu-
liar reasons prevented an earlier acknowledgment of it.
The appointment of his assistant is, by the act establishing the treasury
department, vested in the secretary himself. The conviction I have of your
usefulness in that station, and my personal regard for you, have determined
me to avail myself of the offer of service which the last mentioned letter
contains.
The state of the public business under my care, is such as to make me
VALUE AND USES OF PROPERTY. 181
desire to see you as soon as may consist with the dispositions which your
change of situation will render necessary.
I am, with great regard and esteem, dear sir, your obedient servant,
A. Hamilton.
Tench Coxe, E$q.
Mr. CaxCy Assistant Secretary of the TVeasury, At the Treasury Office.
December 14, 1791.
Dear Sir, — Not haying distinguished between the furs, ginseng, coffee,
mahogany, wine, and sugars, carried to Great Britain and Ireland, and to
other countries, at the time we were extracting those articles from your large
tables, I find myself unable to proceed in making the deductions from our
whole exports to Great Britain, which should be made for that proportion of
those articles which go there. The extiact I made, for instance, tells me
how much furs we send to all the world, but not how much of them go to
England and Ireland, but your tables would tell this. I must, therefore,
ask the favour of the loan of them to have this distinction made, unless it
would be more agreeable to you to let some one state the amount in value
of the furs which we send to Great Britain and Ireland.
Ginseng do. coffee do. mahogany do. wine do. sugars do. Having this
amount, I can deduct it with precision from that of our whole exports to
Great Britain and Ireland.
I am, with great esteem, dear sir, your most obedient humble servant.
Th. Jefferson.
From Thos. APKean^ Governor of Pennsylvania^ to Tench Coxe.
PmLADELPBiA, Juuc 14th, 1801.
Sir, — As secretary of the land office, you may probably be acquainted
with Mr. John M'Kissick, the principal clerk in the office of receiver general;
he has been well recommended to me by several respectable characters in
public as well as private stations, as a suitable person to succeed Mr. Muh-
lenberg as principal officer. There will certainly be a difference between
the speaker of the house of representatives of the United States, and of
this state, as to rank and services, and Mr. M^Kissick, a writing clerk in the
office ; but I wish to promote modest merit, and from recommendations of
him by members of our public councils, I think favourably of his talents
and integrity for the ordinary duties of the office, but is he qualified to act
as a judge of the board of property ? Please to give me your sentiments, for
I wish for something more than " a successor in form." This leads me to
ask you also, whether you think the appointment of Mr. Andrew Ellicot as
your successor would meet with general approbation. I would wish your
answer as soon as is convenient, that I may be prepared to fill both
stations immediately on your coming to town ; which I suppose will be the
latter end of this, or the beginning of next week, as the revenue offides, of
all others, must not be many days vacant. Though our official connection
may for some time be suspended, yet I shall always expect to see you as a
friend, and hope to see you in a day or two at farthest, after you shall have
entered on the duties of your new appointments. The nature of this com-
munication is such, as to rendei it unnecessary to request it may be confined
to yourself. I am, sir^ with esteem, your friend and humble servant.
IBX HEMOIH OF SAMUEL SLATfiR.
To Tench Coxe, greeting :
Reposing especial trust and coafideace in your iDtegrilf , diligence, al
abilities, I, Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the Ireastiry o( the Uoiloll
Slalea, in virtue of the power to me giveo, by the act entitled " An art II
esIabliNh (he treasury department," do constitute and appoint you assiatai
to the said secretary : To hold and exercise the said office during the ple^
sure of the secretary of the treasury of the United Stales for the
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and afExed the seild
the treasury, the tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord one ihoasa
seven hundred and ninety.
AtEXANDEH Hamilton. '
Secretary of the Tte
George Watkington, Pretident of the United States of America. -—Ui «
teho shall tee these presents, greeting :
Know ye, that reposing special trust and confidence in the integrity, it
gence, and ability of Tench Coie of Pennsylvania, I have nominated, i
by and with the advice and consent of the senate, do appoint him commi*- J
■ioner of the revenue, and do authorise and empower him lo execute and ^
fulfil ihe duties of thai office according to kw ; and lo have and to bold tbl ]
said office with all the rights and emoluments thereunto legally appertainifli
unto him, the said Tench Cuxe, during the pleasure of the president of 1^
United Stales for the lime being.
In testimony whereof, I have caused these lelEers lo be made pBIent, ud
the seal of the United Slates to he faereunio affixed. Given under mf band,
at the city of Philadelphia, this ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord
one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, and of the independence of (be
United States of America (he sixteenth.
O. WABBtNOTON.
By the president, Tk: Jefferson.
STEN3ION OF THE 1-OTTON RI'SINEl
ihiiiit ue aacriOcu lo Us existence ;
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER
EXTBN8I0V OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 183
CHAPTER VI.
THE EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS.
** The •choing hills repeat
The ttroke of axe and hammer ; tcaffiilds rite,
And growing edificei ; heape of stone
Beneath the chisel beaateoas shapes assume
Of frieze and column ; some with even line,
New streets are marking in the neighbouring fields,
And sacred domes of worship.*'
Dtke*8 Fuxck.
" All men naturally think themselves equally wise ; and, there-
fore, as any ship that sails faster than another is said in sea phrase
to wrong it, so men are apt to think themselves wronged by those
who, with better talents than they, or greater skill in their use,
get beyond them."
The workmen employed by Mr. Slater, in Pawtucket, took
advantage of their opportunity to steal patterns and models of
his machines ; and in this way, attempts were made to extend the
business, in a short time after its commencement at Pawtucket by
the firm of Almy, Brown & Slater. Those attempts were generally
80 weak and inefiective, that they proved ruinous to the adven-
turers.
Wm. Pollard, Philadelphia, obtained a patent for cotton spinning
Dec. 30, 1791, which was the first water-frame put in motion;
whether he obtained his patterns direct from England, or by the
way of Pawtucket, is not certain ; but it is indubitable that he
could have no claim as the original inventor, nor as the first in-
troducer of the machinery; because it has been shown in the
previous chapter that the whole of the machinery was in full
operation in Rhode Island, a year previous to the date of his
patent.
Mr. Pollard's mill was a very early attempt at water-spinning,
and I am sorry to have to record, that his business &iled in his
hands ; which retarded the progress of cotton spinning in Phila-
delphia. Respect and pity are due to the character of a projector
— ^respect, because society owes to it many obligations, and much
of the piogreas of the useful arts must be ascribed to its existence ;
184 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL 8LAT£R.
and pity, because it is unfriendly to the interests of the individual,
and generally plunge him from affluence into ruin.*
An outline of a plan to encourage industry, is a part of the re-
port of the secretary of the treasury in 1791.
" Let a certain annual sum be set apart, and placed under the
management of commissioners, not less than three ; let these com-
missioners be empowered to apply the fund confided to them, to
defray the expenses of the emigration of artists and manufacturers
in particular branches of extraordinary importance — to induce
the prosecution and introduction of useful discoveries, inventions,
and improvements, by proportionate rewards, judiciously held oat
and applied — to encourage by premiums, both honourable and
lucrative, the exertions of individuals, and of classes, in relation
to the several objects they are charged with promoting — and to
afford such other aids to those objects, as may be generally
designated by law. The commissioners to render to the legislature
an annual account of the transactions and disbursements ; and
all such sums as have not been applied to the purposes of their
trust at the end of every three years, to revert to the treasury. It
may also be enjoined upon them, not to draw out the money, but
for the purpose of some specific disbursement. It may, however
be of use, to authorise them to receive voluntary contributions ;
making it their duty to apply them to the particular objects for
which they may have been made, if any shall have been designated
by the donors. There is reason to believe, tliat the progress of
particular manufactures has been much retarded by the want of
skilful workmen. And it often happens, that the capitals employed
are not equal to the purposes of bringing from abroad workmen of
a superior kind. Here, in cases worthy of it, the auxiliary agency
of government would, in all probability, be useful. There are
also valuable workmen, in every branch, who are prevented from
* The project for a manufacturing company with joint stock, iocorporated
and privileged by the state of Maryland, was very much opposed ; and the
doctrine that it was better to buy of Europe and India, was widely spread.
And it is said, that the Paterson company suffered from treachery and bribery ;
it however failed of accomplishing the fond hopes of the projectors — of in-
troducing the best machinery and the best workmen from England, which
if accomplished, and such companies had been protected, we should ere now
have been entirely independent of foreign fabrics.
At this time, a joint stock company might introduce fine goods, in cotton,
linen, or woollen — or in cutlery. It is not too late to adopt the plan which
Hamilton proposed. It only requires a patriotic spirit to arise among the
people, and a preference for our own goods, and any thing can be done.
EXTENSION OP THE COTTON BUSINESS. 186
emigrating solely by want of the means. Occasional aids to such
persons, properly administered, might be a source of valuable ac-
quisitions to the country. The propriety of stimulating by re-
wards, the invention and introduction of useful improvements, is
admitted without difficulty. But the success of attempts in this
way must evidently depend much on the manner of conducting
them. It is probable that the placing of the dispensation of those
rewards under some proper discretionary direction, where they
may be accompanied by collateral expedients, will serve to give
them the surest efficacy.
<< It seems impracticable to apportion, by general rules, specific
compensations for discoveries unknown and of disproportionate
utility. The great use which may be made of a fund of this
nature, to procure and import foreign improvements, is particu-
larly obvious. Among these, the article of machines would form
a most important item. The operation and utility of premiums
have been adverted to, together with the advantages which have
resulted from their dispensation, under the direction of certain
public and private societies. Of this, some experience has been
had in the instance of the Pennsylvania Society for the promotion
of manufactures and the useful arts ; but the funds of that asso-
ciation have been too contracted to produce more than a very
small portion of the good to which the principles of it would have
led.* It may confidently be affirmed, that there is scarcely any
thing which has been devised better calculated to excite a general
spirit of improvement, than the institutions of this nature. They
are truly invaluable. In countries where there is great private
wealth, much may be efiected by the voluntary contributions of
patriotic individuals ; but in a community situated like that of the
United States, in 1790, the public purse must supply the deficiency
* Amount of Domestic Goods sold in Philadelphia^ the •produce of New
England ; 1804 to 1806 inclusive.
In 1804, cotton yam, $2388
" woTe goods, $1526
3914
1805, cotton yarn, $3805
" wove goods, $1581
-5386
1806, cotton yarn, $6185
« woYO goods, $2185
-8370
Toul for three years, $17670
24
186 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
of private resources. In what can it be so useful, as in prompting
and improving the efforts of industry 1^
The last war with Great Britain taught the Americans one
most excellent lesson, viz. to rely upon their own resources for
support^ and the results of this one lesson have been fiir mora
useful to us than would have been ten thousand of the mosC
brilliant victories over the mother country.* It has resulted in
the erection of manu&cturing establishments in almost every nook
and comer of the middle and northern states — affording sura
markets for the produce of the flocks and fields of the northern
farmer, and increasing the demand for the staple of the southern
planter. The mechanical genius, the industry, and the resources
of the country, have been drawn out and put in successful compe-
tition with those of the old world — and now, at a period of about
twenty years since setting up for ourselves and manu&cturiDg
our own articles, we find ourselves amply able to supply our owit
demand for the most important fabrics necessary for our comfbit,
and even carry the war of commerce and manufactures into the
country of the enemy. In cottons and broadcloths we have sne-
ceeded admirably ; what genius and perseverance have done for
* The power of cultiration has been variously exerted hy individiiak, as
well as by nations; and the earth has been, and now is, clothed with appear-
ances exceedingly various, under those several operations. It is not the
husbandman possessing the richest lands, who always shows the beat condi-
tioned fields. If his acres might yield sixty measures each, he will, at timeS|
take his ease ; nor labour throughout the whole of any day, or fill up the
round year with none but days of toil. His fields may be found withoni the
lefreshment of artificial fertility, and are seldom relieved by skilful rotations.
Lands, on the contrary, yielding but thirty measures, are cultivated by theb
owner with untiring and ceaseless diligence and skill. Instead of exhaust-
ing, he enriches, his fields; and what may be wanting in fertility, is more
than supplied by increased labour and judicious management. As the
traveller goes by them, over whose cornfields, pastures, meadows, and
orchards, does his eye wander with most delight, or linger and gaze longest?
In different quarters of the globe, labour and cultivation have produced
effects more obviously different. Asia was originally equal to Europe, both
in soil and climate ; but what is Asia now compared to Europe ? The plain
of Shinar, once the richest, and most productive region of the East, what
can be found upon it to equal much, very much, of Great Britain ? When
Cesar invaded that island, as he tells us, "most of the people in the interior
sow no corn, but feed on milk and flesh ; and clothe themselves in the skins
of beasts." What has wrought this mighty change ? What has removed
and transplanted the oriental paradise from the banks of the Euphrates to
those of the Thames ? Labour and cultivation, the incessant toil of almost
two thousand years. — Burgess,
EXTBMSIOir OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 187
US in these departments of manufactures, they will do for us in
other departments. Why not try silk, then ? Have we forgotten
the great lesson which the last war taught us ? Must we wait for
a rupture with France, and a consequent &ilure in the supply of
silks, to teach us the lesson again ? Silk has become a common,
if not a necessary, article of consumption. The wealthy and the
poor use it more or less ; in robes, yeils, handkerchiefs, and ribbons,
and thread, it is used, perhaps, by every man, woman, and child,
in the country ; not a button-hole can be made well without it. We
are paying France more than six millions of money a year, for this
very article ; and yet it can be as well cultivated and manufactured
in the United States as in France. The valleys, and the hills even,
of the Green Mountain state can be made to produce silk — and
they should be made to do it. Some enterprising citizens of Ver-
mont have commenced cultivating the mulberry, upon the leaves
of which the silk-worms are fed, and we doubt not, with a little
care and labour, they will soon find this a source of pleasure and
of profit. Let those individuals persevere, let them impart to their
neighbours and to their brother farmers, the result of their experi-
ments. By so doing we doubt not they will satisfy the most
incredulous of the practicability of raising silk in New England,
and thus introduce the cultivation of it as a regular and profitable
branch of agriculture.
The following statistical accounts, show the progress^ of manu-
factures at the beginning of the last war : —
* Small factories spread in Rhode Island about the year 1807, and im-
provements hegan to be introduced ; Hines, Dexter &, Co., tried a picker to
pick cotton by water ; this was superseded by a picker made by a Scotsman,
which answered a good purpose at that time, but there have been greater
improvements made in pickers. As early as 1808, $80,000 was invested in
the Globe factory, Philadelphia, in which Dr. Redman Coxe was concerned.
The Arkwright machinery was introduced very early at Copp's creek Dela-
ware, by Goodfellow. Also at Kirkmill, Delaware, near Wilmington. Those
early attempts in Pennsylvania, were not continued with much success. The
mill in Warwick, which Mr. Potter left, was owned by Brown &, Almy.
Cumberland and Blackstone were early seats of the cotton manufacture ;
also Smithfield. David Wilkinson established a machine shop in Pawtucket.
Jeremiah Wilkinson commenced cutting nails, in which Mr. Slater was
concerned.
Record of Phiinfield Union Manufacturing Co. Jan. 7, 1809. At the
house of John Dunlap ; 70 feet by 33 — 3 stories.
The following persons composed this company: — Anthony Bradford,
James Gorden, Jr., Christopher Dean, Walter Palmer, Lemuel Dorrance,
Jer. Kinsman, Vine Robins6n, John Lester.
188
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
Cotton mills within thirty miles of Providence in 1812.
Towns.
Spindles in
Factories. operation.
No. of ipiiulle*
wbich miKlit nn in
tke buildiof*.
Providence, R. I.
1 540
1250
North Providence,
6 3592
6700
Johnson,
2 1382
2700
Cranston,
4 1100
2988
Cumberland,
2 412
412
Smithfield,
3 4188
5800
Scituate,
3 2688
4000
Gloucester,
2 72
432
Warwick,
9 10757
17856
Coventry,
Exeter,
5 5124
1 400
12800
800
South Kingston,
1 408
408
RAC
•
Massachusetts, within thirty miles of Providence,
Rehoboth,
8 5250
9438
Attleborough,
Taunton,
4 1200
1 800
4469
1000
Dighton,
Wrentham,
4 2775
1 260
7000
260
Merlon,
2 480
2400
Mansfield,
2 360
1600
Medway,
Franklin,
2 1000
1 200
1500
400
Mendon
1 3392
11000
Dedham,
1 654
1200
Walpole,
Canton,
I
2 1000
20 1 7371
800
2400
45438
Each spindle would then produce yarn enough weekly, to make
two and a half yards of cloth, of the value of 30 cents per yard.
The number of spindles then in operation produced, therefore, suffi-
cient yarn when wove, to make in each week 128635 yards of
cloth, worth 896,476. What an immense importance does this
attach to the introduction of this manufacture previous to the war!
As the following letter of Wm. Almy to Samuel Slater is
probably the only one I shall be able to obtain from his first partner,
[ will insert it. It will he read as a curiosity.
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 189
Samuel Slater, PaiDtucket,
Providence, 18th 9th month, 1795.
Inclosed is ten dollars — We have made enquiry about corn, have not
found any ; shall continue to look out, and as soon as we can find any, will
purchase it and send it up. We are to have a load of meal, which we ex-
pect to-day or to-morrow ; if we don't light of any corn, will send part of it
to Pawtucket. I have desired my brother to get the bristles d^c. this morning
and send them.
Having been a housekeeper myself, th^se two days, with a specimen of
the dysentery, which is pretty prevalent. I showed the candle-wick to Thos.
Hazard Jr. who liked it much, supposed it nearly the size they use ; they use
about four or five hundred pounds a year. He took the skein with him to com-
pare with theirs, which as far as I could find, at present cost them about 4s.
— he says they are obliged to have it wound in balls. Quere^ what would
be the additional expense of winding it into balls off the spools, five threads
together? He says if they take it in skeins, they will have to get it wound,
as the method we talked of reeling it, and lee winding it with the number
of threads suitable for a wick, he thought would not answer so well. I think
the price thou puts upon Sampson's wick is as high most probably as he will
giye, and perhaps is about right. Should be glad of thy opinion respecting
the bag of cotton last sent, it cost Is. 8d., we have another between three
and four hundred weight of the same quality. Greorgia cotton seems grow-
ing rather more plenty. We have received several invitations from New-
port to purchase a quantity that is there, which they say is good, and they
will sell very cheap. Will endeavour to send thee a little more cash, begin-
ning of the week, if possible. Wm. Almy.
The increase of business was probably the reason of Mr. Slater's
sending for his brother. His wife^s brothers were employed by
him; Smith Wilkinson spun for him, David wrought on ma-
chinery, and the whole family were engaged in some way con-
nected with the business. He built, in company with his father-
in-law, Oziel Wilkinson, the New Mill, on the Massachusetts side,
and which was the first cotton-mill in that state on the Arkwright
improvement. Samuel Slater superintended both the old and the
new mills, for which he was allowed one dollar and fifty cents a
day for each mill ; which gave him three dollars a day for his
personal services. He was very laborious, and incessant in his
attention to business. So that Samuel Slater did not get his pro-
perty without hard work, anxiety, and severe application : few
persons ever laboured more for his age. He went forward unas-
sured that even common prosperity would attend his enterprise,
but he faced the difficulties and encountered them. An event of
real magnitude in human history, is never seen in all its grandeur
and importance, till some time after its occurrence has elapsed.
In proportion as the meipory of small men and small things is lost,
that of the truly great becomes more bright. The cotemporary
{
190 MEMOIR OP SAMUEL SLATER.
aspect of things is often confused and indistinct The eye which
is placed too near the canvass, beholds too distinctly the separate
touches of the pencil, and is perplexed with a cloud of seemingly
discordant tints. It is only at a distance, that they melt into a
harmonious living picture. The inhabitants of Pawtucket, who
saw Slater labouring day and night, and sometimes beheld him
loaded with a bale of cotton on his back, little supposed what
abilities he possessed, or the importance of his enterprise.
The war of 1812 decided the success of Mr. Slater's business,
by that time* he had got so far under way, and all the operations
and preparations he had previously made, now gave him a great
advantage. Cotton cloth sold at forty cents per yard, and the
demand was unlimited. While his business was thus increasing
and he was making money rapidly, he suffered a severe domestic
affliction, in the loss of his beloved wife, in the thirty-seventh jrear
of her age, soon afler the birth of her last child.
Thus he was left with a helpless family, when his business
demanded every moment of his attention. Of course the care of
his family was left to persons hired for the purpose, and they
sometimes suffered for the common and necessary attentions, suit-
able to their age and infirmities. At that time it was extremely
* Writers on the progress of the mechanic arts, during the last centaiy,
refer almost exclusively to Europe*; the nineteenth century will claim a
notice of American improvements. Less than seventy years ago, the osly
machine much used for reducing cotton into yarn, was the one-thread-iDhed,
Other methods had been thought of, and proposed, for making a more eaty
.and expeditious process ; but without any extensive or permanent success.
About the year 1767, James Hargreave, an English weaver, constructed t
machine, by means of which any number of threads, from twenty to eighty,
might be spun at once, and for which he obtained a patent ; and soon after t
new method of carding cotton, more easy and expeditious than the old way
«of carding by the hand, which was now found inadequate to the rapid pio-
^gress and large demands of the improved mode of spinning. The first calicoes
were made in Lancashire, about 1772; muslins, 1781 ; previously, chiefly con-
fined to India. In 1739, a machine was invented in Massachusetts, by either
Foster, or M'Clinch, for cutting and bending wire in a state completely
prepared for sticking cards ; before this they were imported. In 1797, Amos
Whittemore, of Cambridge, Mass. invented a machine which by a simple
operation, bends, cuts, and sticks card teeth ; 1799, Wm. Whittemore 6l Ca
commenced the manufacture of cards with this machine, in Cambridge, and
were able very soon to furnish two hundred dozen pairs of cards on an
average every week. Steam-engines were scarcely at all known, prior to
the eighteenth century. To the honour of inventing and perfecting this
kind of machinery, the artists of Great Britain are entitled.
EZTEireiON OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 191
difficult to obtain suitable persons to help in families — ^no money
could secure them. Under no circumstances can you fill the place
of a mother. I visited my friend while he was a widower, and
could not help observing how great a chasm was made in his
family, by the loss of his beloved Hannah ; her loss was felt by all
her friends, and the poor lamented her whose charities and kind-
ness they had experienced.
The company formed in Smithfield, were Almy, Brown &>
Slaters; a large establishment was erected under the superintend-
ence of John Slater, Esq., who understood the business, and
managed the concern to great advantage. Notwithstanding some
favourable circumstances, such as the non -importation, non-inter-
course, and finally the war, helped to raise the prices of home
manu&ctures, a great deal depended on economy. Mr. Slater's
personal expenses were comparatively small ; he paid nothing for
show, or parade, or ostentation; or as they say in England, which
proverb he was apt to repeat, << he did not keep more cats than
caught mice." He probably learned the art of saving, from Mr.
Strutt, who gave him lessons to save the waste cotton, and this
led much to his careful habits and self denial.
Another anecdote was in circulation, respecting the first inter-
view which Mr. Slater had with his brother John, after his arrival
in this country. It was stated that Samuel Slater saw his brother
John in the streets of Providence, as he was riding through, and
that he instantly jumped out of the chaise, and left the horse to
take his own course, while he embraced his brother. This story
was incorrect ; Wm. Wilkinson, of Providence, saw John Slater on
his landing on the wharf, and took him to the house, and told
him he was acquainted with his brother, and that he would
take him out to Pawtucket. When Mr. Wilkinson arrived at
Mr. Slater's house, he found him within, and said to him, — " I
have brought one of your countrymen to see you, and can you
find any thing for him to do ?" He desired them to be seated and
he would be with them in a few minutes. He soon came up to
his countryman, and asked what part of England he came from?
Prom Derb3rshire. — What part of Desbyshire? — Belper. — Ah, the
town of Belper, I am acquainted with that place ; what may I call
your name ? — John Slater. — When Samuel left, John was a boy,
and he had changed so much that he did not recognise him. My
readers need not be told that the interview was a joyful one to
the two brothers. — Is my mother yet alive ? How are all my
brothers and sisters? How is my old master, Strutt? How is
my old schoolmaster, Jackson ? How is the old ^^ Holly-House"
192 MEMOIR OP SAMUSL SLATER.
farm getting along? — With innumerable other questions, were
rapidly put and answered between the brothers ; and Mr. Wilkin-
son told me he enjoyed the scene of their meeting and greetings ;
it was like Joseph's seeing his brother Benjamin after so long an
absence.
John came to America in consequence of his brother's invitation
and persuasion, and they always maintained an affectionate inter-
course, and were a long time connected in business with each
other.
" June 14, 1817. The American society for the encouragement
of American manufactures, met last evening, in the assembly room
at city hotel. — Daniel D. Tomkins, president of the society, took
the chair, supported by the vice-presidents, Col. Few, and John
Ferguson, Esq. The society being organised, James Monroe, pre-
sident of the United States, was proposed as a member, whereon,
the presiding officer suggested that the usual form of ballot be
dispensed with, and that James Monroe be received as a member ;
a motion to this effect was then made, and carried unanimously.
Messrs. Morris, Golden, and Pierson, were appointed a committee
to wait on the president of the United States, to inform him of hi^
being elected, and to solicit the honour of his attendance at the
meeting ; to which he politely assented, and being inducted by the
committee, took his seat on the right of the presiding officer, who
immediately rose, and in an extempore and eloquent address, assured
his excellency of the high sense entertained by the society of the
honour he conferred, by assenting to become one of its members,
which created a confidence that he would do all, which he con-
sistently could, to promote the views with which the society was
instituted. To which his excellency replied, with much eloquence
and force, that he duly appreciated the objects of the institution,
which were particularly dear to him, from their being intimately
connected with the real independence of our country, and closed
with an assurance that he would use his efforts as far as the gene-
ral interests of the country would permit, to proipote the patriotic
and laudable objects of the society. James Madison, Thomas
Jefferson, * and .lohu Adams, were then separately proposed as
* The American society for the encouragement of domestic manufactures,
in New York, on the 13lh of June 1817, unanimously elected John Adams,
Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, members thereof, and directed their
secretary to apprise them of the circumstance by letter. The following is a
copy of the secretary's letter, and the answers thereto.
New York, 14th June, 1817.
Sir — The American society for the encouragement of domestic manufac-
EXTENSfON OP THE COTTON BUSINESS. 193
members, and admitted unanimously ; the usual form of ballot
being, on motion, dispensed with.
tures, instifAited in this city, sensible of the zeal you have aniformly dis-
played, in the promotion of every object connected with the welfare and
independence of our country, had the honour to elect you a member at their
last meeting, convened on the 13th inst., for the purpose of initiating into
the society, James Monroe, president of the United States. It would afford
me the highest gratification to announce to the society your assent to become
one of its members.
I have the honour to be, sir, with respect and consideration, your obedient
servant, D. LvNon, Jr.
duiNGY, June 23, 1S17.
Sir, — I have received the letter you did me the honour of writing to me,
on the 14th of this month, announcing to me my election by the American
Society for the encouragement of Domestic Manufactures, instituted in New
York, as a member, an honour made more illustrious by the presence of the
president of the United States. Be pleased, sir, to present my respects to
the society, and my thanks for the honour they have done me, and to assure
them, if the best wishes of a man at eighty-one years of age can promote the
wise purposes of their institution, I shall be a useful member. For, according
to my superficial view of political economy in civilised society, next to agricul-
ture, which is the first and most splendid, manufactures are the second, and
navigation the third. With agriculture, manufactures, and navigation, all
the commerce which can be necessary or useful to the happiness of a nation
will be secured. Accept my thanks for the civility with which you have
communicated the vote of the society to their and your fiiend,
John Adams.
D. I/ynch^ Jr., Secretary of the American Society for the
encouragement of Domestic Manufactures,
MoNTicELLo, June 26, IS 17.
Sir, — I am thankful for the honour done me, by an association with
the American Society for the encouragement of Domestic Manufactures, in-
stituted in New York. The history of the last twenty years has been a
sufficient lesson for us all to depend for necessaries on ourselves alone : and 1
hope that twenty years more will place the American hemispheie under a
system of its own essentially peaceable and industrious, and not needing to ex-
tract its comforts out of the eternal fires raging in the old world. The efibrts of
the members of your institution being necessarily engaged in their respective
vicinages, I consider myself, by their choice, as but a link of union between
the promoters there and here of the same patriotic objects. Praying you to
present to the society my just acknowledgments for this mark of attention,
I tender to yourself the assurance of my great respect and consideration.
Th : Jefferson.
Mr. Lynch.
MoNTPEUER, June 27, 1817.
Sir,-^! have received your letter of the 18th inst, informing me that the
American Society for the encouragement of Domestic ManufiMstures, had
25
194 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
" The corresponding committee offered the following report, with
an address from the pen of C. D. Golden Esq., which were seve-
rally read — After which, the president of the United States with-
drew, and the society adjourned.
Report of the corresponding committee of the Society for the en-
couragement of Domestic Manufactures.
"The corresponding committee, elected in pursuance of the
third article of the constitution, for the current year, respectfully
report —
" That immediately after the meeting of the society, held on the
31st of December 1816, they took the speediest measures for carry-
ing into effect the resolutions, respecting the printing and publishing
the address then reported and adopted. They accordingly caused
to be printed 5000 copies ; one of which was presented to the
president of the United States, and one to each of the members of
congress and heads of departments of the general governmenly
and to the governors and members of the legislatures of the states
been pleased to elect me one of its members. Although I approve the policf
of leaving to the sagacity of individuals, and to the impulse of private in-
terest, the application of industry and capital, I am equally persuaded that
in this as in other cases, there are exceptions to the general rule, which do
not impair the principle of it. Among these exceptions, is the policy of en-
couraging domestic manufactures, within certain limits, and in reference
to certain articles. Without entering into a detailed view of the subject, it
may be remarked, that every prudent nation will wish to be independent of
other nations, for the necessary articles of food, of raiment, and of defence
— and particular considerations applicable to the United States, seem to
strengthen the motives to this independence. Besides the articles falling
under this description, there may be others, for manufacturing which, natond
advantages exist, which require temporary interpositions of bringing them
into regular and successful activity. Where the fund of industry is acquired
from abroad, and not withdrawn nor withheld from other domestic employ-
ments, the case speaks for itself. I will only add, that among the articles of
consumption and use, the preference, in many cases, is decided merely by
fashion or habit. As far as equality, and still more, where a real superiority
is found in the articles manufactured at home, all must be sensible, that it is
politic and patriotic to encourage a preference of them as affording a more
certain source of supply for every class, and a more certain market for the
surplus products of the agricultural class. With these sentiments, I beg you
to make my acknowledgments for the mark of distinction conferred on me ;
and which I accept from respect for the society, and for its objects, rather
than from any hope of being useful as a member. To yourself, I tender my
friendly respects. James Madison.
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 195
respectively, as far as the same was practicable. Your committee,
in further pursuance of the duties delegated to them, caused a
memorial to be drawn up on behalf of the society, addressed to
the congress of the United States, praying for the permanency of
the duties imposed by the tariff; the prohibition of cotton goods,
manu&ctured beyond the Cape of Good Hope ; such revision and
modification of the revenue laws, as might prevent smuggling,
false invoices, and other frauds ; for a duty of ten per cent, on
auction sales, with the exceptions therein stated ; for a recom-
mendation to the officers of the army and navy, and to all civil
officers, to be clothed in American fabrics ; that all public supplies
for the army and navy might be of American manufacture ; and
for such other protection as might place our mercantile and manu-
&cturing interests beyond the reach of foreign influence. It is
with pleasure and gratitude your committee have learned, that
the war department has given an entire preference to domestic
manufacture, and as much is confidently hoped from the depart-
ment of the navy. Your committee elected a delegate to proceed
with the same to the seat of government. Memorials of similar
import, were drawn up by the merchants of this city, and by the
citizens at large, respectively : and another member of your com-
mittee was deputed by the merchants, who also appointed a citizen
of New York, then in the city of Washington, to co-operate with
the delegates of this society, and cause the above named memo-
rials to be laid before congress, with instruction to solicit and pro-
mote the objects of them by their best endeavours. The delegates,
on their way to the seat of government, took occasion to explain to
certain respectable and influential citizens of Philadelphia and
Baltimore, the objects, views, and motives of this society and the
nature of their mission; and had the satis&ction, during the
short period of one day in each of these cities, to witness the for-
mation of kindred associations, whose proceedings have been long
since made public, and which by their intelligence, patriotism,
capital, and character, have proved an inappreciable acquisition to
the cause of domestic industry. During their residence in the
city of Washington, the said delegates, with the aid and co-opera-
tion of their colleagues, made a similar and no less successful
appeal to the citizens of Washington, Greorgetown, and Alexandria ;
who at a meeting convened by public notice, instituted and organ-
ised an association, entitled the Metropolitan Society — the pro-
ceedings of which association have also been made public, and their
zeal, influence, and respectability, have done much in rousing the
spirit of enquiry and promoting the true interests of their country.
196 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
The delegates were heard with much attention by the committee
of commerce and manufactures of the house of representatives, to
whom the above memorials were referred, and that committee re-
ported, in part, by a bill for a continuance of the existing duties
upon importation as prayed : and referred the other matters more
inunediately connected with the revenue to the secretary of the
treasury ; whose opinions, we think ourselves authorised to state,
were in unison with the prayer of the memorialists. And although
the lateness of the session, and the mass of unfinished business,
prevented the immediate attainment of the objects desired, yet the
wisest and most experienced in and out of congress, (the enlight-
ened members of the committee of the house included,) were of
opinion that nothing would be lost by the delay, as every day
would offer new manifestations of the public sentiment, and the
circumstances of the times be more fully developed, and operate
as a law of necessity. It may be important also to state the friendly
intimation of the committee itself, that nothing would more con-
duce to future success, than an authentic collection of facts, tend-
ing to show the value of the property embarked in domestic
manufactures, the great portion of which was jeopardised by the
causes set forth, and the loss and irreparable injury the commu-
nity must suffer from neglect and indifference to so essential an
interest. As that information could be best collected and embodied
by the active industry of this and other societies, we mention it as
an additional stimulus to exertion, and efforts well combined ; and
we trust that all citizens, who prize the lasting independence of
their country, who rejoice in its general and individual prospects,
will take pride and pleasure in sharing so generous a task. The
two delegates who proceeded together from this city, were gratified
in returning through the town of Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, to
witness the formation of an association of citizens, possessed of
every qualification to be useful ; talent, influence, and capital.
They were there, as on a former occasion, invited to explain the
views and tendency of their mission, and had the pleasure to find
the principles of this institution approved, adopted, and promptly
acted upon, by their respective fellow-citizens.
" Numerous societies have cotemporaneously, and in rapid suc-
cession, arisen throughout the Union ; many have announced
themselves by publications full of energy, and marked with intelli-
gence. Regular communications have been transmitted to us from
the society of Wilmington, in the state of Delaware; Middletown,
Hartford and Hatfield, in Connecticut ; Rome and other places, in
the state of New York ; and we have full authority to say that
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BU8INE88. 197
Ohio, Kentucky, New Jersey, Vii^inia and Mississippi, will soon
add their strength and weight to the common stock. The most
eminent journalists, without regard to political or party relations,
have lent their unhought talents ; and essays have appeared in
their columns, which would do honour to any country or to any
cause. The periodical publications, of most acknowledged merit
and extensive circulation, have likewise appropriated their labours
to the service of their country, and as far as their sphere extended,
have put prejudice to flight and ignorance to shame. A pamphlet
has been compiled by a judicious and masterly band in the city
of Philadelphia, from the report of the celebrated Alexander
Hamilton, made by that statesman in the year 1790, when secre-
tary of the treasury, by order of the house of representatives : this
paper has been eminently serviceable, inasmuch as it brings back
the judgment of the reader to the natural order of things, before
the distorted and disjointed relations of the civihsed world had
habituated mankind to disturbed and crooked views, and fallacious
reliances upon ephemeral hopes and transient speculations. It
establishes principles pure and unerring, and has the merit, not
only of sage predictions, but of prophecies fulfilled. It is impossi-
ble to notice all the valuable tracts that patriotic excitement has
given birth to, within the short period since our institution led the
way, — the address of the society of Middletown, in Connecticut,
and the leport of the committee of Pittsburgh, are documents de-
serving much attention ; and it is to be wished, that a collection
of the most of these valuable tracts should be embodied and pre-
served, — they are so many pledges to the public, of the faith and
loyalty of the citizen. The address of the society has been re-
printed and circulated in abundance, in so many different forms,
and noticed with so much favour, that it is impossible to retire
from the front of the battle, where we first appeared, without some
loss of character. It is our turn noio, to take the next step in the
field of generous emulation, and we should meet more than half
way, every overture to correspondence and co-operation. We
should acknowledge our obligations for the confidence reposed in
us, and for the light of instruction reflected on us. So far your
committee have traced their progress in the execution of their
trust ; so far our bark has adventured with a fiivouring gale ; for
although we lament that some of our &brics must suffer, within
this year, irreparable loss, yet we trust that the certainty with
which they may count upon the fostering care of the government,
will, in general, restore courage, confidence, and credit ; and enable
the greater part to ride out the storm. The immense losses, at
198 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
which our markets are glutted, cannot endure for many years ;
and little can he see, who does not read the rising prosperity of
our manufactures, at no distant day, and with it, the power, happi-
ness, and security of this highly favoured land. Your committee,
considering the interests of commerce and manufactures as insepa-
rable and identical, cannot close this report without noticing an
evil which has grown to an enormous and alarming extent The
present system of auction sales of recent date, in this country, and
an anomaly in the history of commerce, has nearly exploded all
regular business ; and the auctioneer, whose office was formerly
subordinate to that of the merchant, is now nearly the only seller ;
and if subordinate to any, merely to a foreign principal. If any
sales are now made by the regular trader, they are occasional and
supplementary. Commercial education, orderly habits and sober
pursuits, honour and good faith, too fatally yield to gambling
speculations and fraudulent contrivances. The benefits, if any,
that result from this extraordinary monopoly, are daily paid for by
the ruin of a class, whose industry was the life of the communityj
and through them, in a greater or less degree, of the various and
numerous descriptions of persons, who without being commercial|
depend upon commerce for their support. And if once the mer-
chant disappears from the scene ; if the source is once destroyed,
the thousand channels which it occupies become dry and fruitless;
the proprietor, the mechanic, the artist, the labourer, follow in the
train, and must seek elsewhere for subsistence. Already has the
public feeling remonstrated against this abuse, but the practice has
still prevailed. The established merchant, it has been shown,
must ever be unable to compete with the stranger who is charged
with no contribution to the public service, subjected to no rent or
household expenditure, none of the costs and charges of a com-
mercial establishment, nor taxes, nor impositions, for the support
of government. Your committee therefore, refer this subject to
the most serious attention of the society, that the most suitable
means of investigation may be adopted to substantiate its truth
and secure its relief."
The following is an abstract of the address delivered at this
meeting : — All who believe that the happiness and independence
of our country are connected with the prosperity of our manufac-
tures, must rejoice to see the chief magistrate of the nation honour-
ing with his presence, a society instituted for their protection and
encouragement. Knowing that the manufactures of the United
States cannot, in their infant state, resist the rivalship of foreign
nations without the patronage of the government, it is consoling to
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 199
find, that Ae, to whom the unanimous voice of a free people has
committed the highest office, has not only consented to become a
member of our institution, but that he avails himself of the first
opportunity of giving it the countenance and support of his attend-
ance. An incident like this may form a new era in the history
of society. In other countries, the influence of the magistrate is
felt onli/ from the operation of his laws, or through the instrument-
ality of his subordinate agents : while on the other hand, he derives
his information through intermediate channels; but our happy
constitution places the people and their officers in such relations to
each other that they may have a mutual and direct intercourse ;
and we now behold the first magistrate of a great nation seeking,
at its source, the information which will enable him to know the
wants and wishes of the country. A life devoted to the good of his
country, gives us assurance, that it is only necessary to make him
acquainted with what will promote its happiness, to insure ail the
support which may be derived from his high station. It is now
too late to question the advantages of manufactures ; all history
shows us bow much they have contributed to the prosperity of
every state where they have been encouraged. Indeed, we find
that, in some instances, they have been the source of all the
wealth and power of a people. As they have prospered or dtciined^
nations have risen or sunk. Even wealthy without manufactures
and commerce, has only served to degrade a great community, by
the introduction of that luxury which was purchased with the
produce of inexhaustible mines of gold.
But it is not as they are sources of wealth, that an American
must feel the deepest interest in the fate of our manufactures; they
more nearly concern us, as they are connected with our inde-
pendence. For how shall we avoid the influence of foreign
nations, while we suffer ourselves to be dependent on them, not
only for the luxuries but the necessaries of life ? Can that nation
feel independent, which has no reliance, but upon foreign lands,
for the fabrics which are to clothe her citizens ? For manufactured
materials which are necessary for the construction of their dwell-
ings, and for the tools with which they are to cultivate their soil 7
But such has been our situation, (unknown almost to ourselves^)
until a jealousy of our prosperity provoked a war, which barred
us from the workshops of England; and then we found we were
in some measure obliged to rely on a treasonable trade to clothe
the armies which met her in the field of battle. The very
powder which generated the thunder of our cannon was some-
times British manu&cture, and the " striped bunting" may often
200 MEMOIR OP SAMUEL SLATER.
have been from the same loom with the '' cross of St. Georgei''
over which it so frequently waved with triumph. Such a state
of things could not but awaken the spirit and enterprise of Ame-
ricans. Amidst the agitation of war, while one part of the popu-
lation was ranging itself under the military banners of our countryy
another devoted itself to her interest in another form. Manu&o-
tures arose as if by enchantment — on every stream she formed for
herself spacious dwellings, and collected in them many thousands
who in no other way could contribute to the general weal. Those
too young or too old to bear arms, who had no strength for ag^-
cultural labours — ^the female, whose domestic services could be
dispensed with in her family, found here a means of individual
gain, and of adding to the public prosperity. In a short three
years, the produce of our looms rivaled foreign productions, and
the nation with which we were contending felt more alarm from
the progress of our manufactures, than she did from the success
of our arms. But peace came, — while we were at war, the ware-
houses of England were filled with the produce of the labour,
which a loss of market had enabled her to purchase at a depre-
ciated price. The moment intercourse between the two countries
was opened, her hoarded stores were thrown upon us, and we
were deluged with the manufactures which had been waiting the
event. They could be sold without profit, because the foreign
manufacturer thought himself fortunate if he could realise the capi-
tal which he had been obliged to expend, to support his establish-
ment while there was no sale for his wares. But he was content
to bear a loss, because, in the words of an English statesman, " It
was well worth while to incur a loss upon the first exportation, in
order, by the glut to stifle in the cradle those rising manufactures
in the United States, which the war had forced into existence."
It would have been surprising indeed, if our infant manufacturesi
the establishment of which had generally exhausted the capitals
of those who embarked in them, could have sustained themselves
under such circumstances, without any aid or support from the
government, without any means of countervailing the effects of
the sacrifices which foreigners were willing to make for their
destruction. How were they to maintain themselves? It was
impossible, — many of them sunk — but, we hope, to rise again.
The attention of the government was too ardently directed, dur-
ing the war, to other objects, to perceive the policy or necessity of
that protection which the manufacturing interest did not then
appear to want. But now, that peace will leave our legislators
free to consider and provide for the real independence, and perma-
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 201
nent prosperity of our country ; now, when we have at the head
of our administration, a citizen, whose presence here this evening
assures us of the interest he takes in the objects of our institution,
we may hope, that American manu£ictures will receive all the
countenance and support that can be derived from the power of
the government. Let that power be exerted only so far as to
counteract the policy of foreign nations, and every American may
be gratified in the pride of wearing the produce of the American
soil, manufactured by American hands. Again shall the surplus
population of our great cities, and the feeble powers of women and
children, find that means of usefiil and profitable employment
which manufactures alone can afford them. Again shall the
patriotic and enterprising capitalist find advantage in devoting his
means and mind to objects so calculated to promote the prosperity
and happiness of his country. And again shall foreign nations
dread to see us rising to that real independence, which we never
can in truth enjoy, while we depend upon any but ourselves for
the first necessaries of life. The society beg leave to testify to the
chief magistrate of the nation, the high sense they entertain of the
honour he has conferred upon them by his presence at this time,
and sincerely participate in the feelings, which have been so uni-
versally manifested on his visit to our city, and most cordially
tender him their best wishes for his health and happiness."
A very favourable impression, in favour of domestic manufac-
tures, was every where manifested at the conclusion of the war of
1812. Mr. Jefferson had changed his views on the subject, and
expressed himself as follows : — " To be independent for the com-
forts of life, we must fabricate them ourselves. We must now
place the manufacturer by the side of the agriculturist. Expe-
rience has taught me that manufactures are as necessary to our
independence as to our comfort." And Mr. Monroe's message of
December 30th, 1821, was much to the point : — " It cannot be
doubted, that the more complete our internal resources, and the
less dependent we are on foreign powers, for every national as
well as 4omestic purpose, the greater and more stable will be the
public felicity. By the increase of domestic manufactures will
the demand for the rude materials at home be increased ; and thus
will the dependence of the several parts of the Union, and the
strength of the Union itself, be proportionably augmented." It is
said that Mr. Monroe's tour to New England made a very favour-
able impression on his own mind, with regard to the resources of
the country, for manufacturing operations ; the population of the
26
202 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
eastern section of the Union struck him as altogether adapted to
the object.
When the President of the United States arrived at Providenoe,*
a committee of arranitements was chosen at Pawtucket, who met
Mr. Monroe and his suite, and escorted him to the " Old MiU,"
where Mr. Slater received him, and exhibited to him his first
frames, by which he had spun his first cotton ; explaining to him
the present progress of the business, with which the president was
highly delighted, and it was considered a proud day for Pawtucket,
and more particularly to the individual who had been the means
of raising that obscure hamlet to such a flourishing town. The
change was remarkable, and it took place during a severe con-
test with Great Britain. Providence and Rhode Island, in general,
received an impetus which has continued to raise that compaim-
tively small state to wealth and importance.!
♦ Mr, Monroe's answer to the Providence Address^ previous to his vitii te
Pavtticket,
TO THE COMMITTEE OP THE TOWN OF PROVIDENCE.
Gentlemen, — I received, with great satisfaction, the address which the
citizens of Providence, through their committee, have heen pleased to com-
municate to me. The pleasure of my journey has been greatly enhanced
by the uniform kindness and promptitude with which the objects of my Tisit
have been seconded by my fellow citizens. Every where in oar country
the reflecting mind cannot fail to observe the blessings of a free government
Living under a constitution which secures equal, civil, religious, and pditi-
cal rights to all, it is a great consolation in administering it, that the people
have formed so just an estimate of its value ; and from rational conviction,
and not from blind prejudices, are sincerely devoted to its preservation. I
hope that this just confidence in the stability of our government may con-
tinue to increase; and if it does, it cannot fail to produce the happiest effects,
by encouraging a love of our country, and an honest zeal to promote its be»t
and permanent interests. Happy shall I be, if my exertions in the pabiic
service shall be so far successful, that they may assist the industry and
enterprise of my fellow citizens, in increasing the general prosperity.
James Monroe.
«
The next morning he received all that wished to be presented to him, and
then proceeded to view the town, and visit the neighbouring cotton mills,
(fee. At Pawtucket, he was shown the first frame upon the Arkwright plan,
put into operation in this country ; it has been running 27 years, and was
erected by Mr. Slater, the present owner of the establishment. After which
he took a polite leave of his Rhode Island friends, and passed into Massa-
chusetts.— A'i7c«'j? Register.
t While Rhode Island was a colony of Great Britain, Newport was, by
far, the place of the greatest importance in the state. Delightfully situated
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 203
The North American Review, July 1823, attempts to account
for the failures previous to that time, on other grounds than want
of protection from government : — " All manufactures, to be prose-
cuted to great extent and with great profit, require a very compli-
cated and perfect machinery, not to be had without a great dis-
bursement, nor easily-for that. Accordingly, the factories which
were so imprudently set up at every waterfall in our country, ill
provided with machinery, possessed of none of its most costly
improvements, and furnished with nothing but of the cheapest and
most ordinary construction, though they might be able, during
the total exclusion of foreign trade in time of war, or under a
system of prohibitory duties, to continue in operation, must
necessarily stop under any competition. Many accordingly did
stop ; and who that sees them, and knows how they were furnished,
and how managed, but rather wonders how they got on? Another
cause of the failure of our manufactures was the want of experi-
ence. A vast accumulation of individual and traditional observa-
vatiou,of dexterity acquired in practice, and often a secret skill, is
necessary to the successful conduct of a factory. More or less of
it is necessary in every pursuit. A capitalist who knows nothing
of trade, would commit a great error in buying cargoes, chartering
ships, and making voyages. We much fear, that, without any de-
pression of manufactures, he would soon become a bankrupt. But
yet it is much easier to conduct a voyage than a factory. Good
ships can be bought to your hands, cargoes judiciously laid in by
the brokers, and experienced captains sent to sea. But to com-
mand all the skill, ingenuity, and experience, requisite to erect
and conduct a factory, is a far different affair. Hundreds were
for commerce, it received its share of commercial trade, and the Island was
caltiTated as a garden, compared with other parts of New England. The
Naragansett country and the greater part of the state was then a mere wil-
derness. It possessed, however, natural adviintages in water falls, not
surpassed hy any other portion of America, of the same extent of teiritory.
These attracted the capital of manufactures, and a dense population, in
beautiful villages and hamlets, now spreads over the greatest part of the
country; the whole scene is changed: schools are introduced, places of
worship erected, and the state of improvement is quite equal, if not superior,
to any other state or section of the country.
Rhode Island is no longer despised, hy her sister states, as ignorant and
irreligious, but they are as zealous and devoted to science and literature,
and especially the mechanic arts, as either Connecticut or Massachusetts,
or any other state in the Union.
204 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
erected without a particle of either, and stand the moumful monu-
ments of the improvidence of their undertakers.*"
* The following remarks are in substance the Words of Mr. T. Buigess,
in his address before the Rhode Island Agricultural Society : — " Forty years
ago there was not a spindle wrought by water on this side the Atlantic.
Since then, how immense the capital by which spinning and weaving
machinery are moved ! How many, how great, how various, the improve-
ments ! The farmers of Flanders erected a statue in honour of him who
introduced into their country the culture of the potatoe. What shall the
people of New England do for him who first brought us the knowledge of
manufacturing cloth, by machinery moved by water ? In England, he
would in life* be ornamented with a peerage, in death, lamented by a monii-
ment in Westminster Abbey. The name of Slater will be remembered as
one of our greatest public benefactors. Let not the rich, in his adopted
country, envy the products of his labour — his extensive opulence — his fair
and elevated character. Let the poor rise up and call him blessed ; for he
has introduced a species of industry into our country, which furnishes them
with labour, food, clothing, and habitation ; and that, too, when the long and
hungry winters of our climate lock up all other employment from them. It
may be said, I think, without any fair imputation of national vanity, that the
United States have, during the last forty years, made a more respectable
progress in manufactures than any other nation or people.
" It is within the personal knowledge of every merchant conversant with
the importation of foreign goods, that there was scarcely such a thing heard
of as British cotton sheeting before the manufacture of them was attempted
in this country. In the year 1787, the cotton used in England was for the
following purposes : — Candlewicks, hosiery, silk and linen mixtures, faatians*
calicoes, and muslins. Neither sheetings nor shirtings are mentioned in
this enumeration.
*' The progress of the United States in this manufacture stands unrivaled.
It may be attributed to the enterprising spirit, to the industry and ingenuity
of our countrymen, aided by the immense advantage of producing the staple
at home. This advantage has enabled us to apply the finer kinds of cottOA
to heavier fabrics than had before been attempted.
" The committee of 1832 have turned their attention with great interest to
the influence of the cotton manufacture upon the moral habits and character
of the operatives. No class of the working population in this country is
more respectable and intelligent or better educated. In the United States,
manufactures are dispersed through the country. The operatives are, to a
considerable extent, females, who come into the factories, after having
acquired their education, who stay there but a few years, and whose liberal
wages enable them during those few years to lay up considerable sums of
money. In many factories, the proprietors have instituted savings banks, to
encourage the economy of the operatives, by enabling them to deposit such
portions, however small, of their earnings as they could spare, the proprie-
tors allowing a moderate rate of interest, and being responsible for the safety
of the capital. One factory has made a return on this subject to the com-
mittee, where the wages amount to about sixty thousand dollars per annum ;
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 206
In order to appreciate the value and importance of the extension
of the cotton business, it will be necessary to take a retrospective
view of the condition the country was found in, at the commence-
ment of the last war with Great Britain. The abstract which
follows was selected from memorials which had reference to this
state of things, and to the distresses which followed the peace, in
consequence of the influx of foreign goods. This refers to a most
serious state of affairs, connected with manufacturing establish-
ments ; and before we proceed to their progress, it will be proper
to revert to that disastrous period of bankruptcy and ruin. It
cannot be better expressed than in the language used by persons
who deeply felt the pressure of the calamity.
It is said that hundreds of our ill-fated soldiers perished for
want of comfortable clothing in the early part of the war of 1812,
when exposed to the inhospitable climate of Canada. The war
found us destitute of the means of supplying ourselves, not merely
with blankets for our soldiers, but a vast variety of other articles
necessary for our ease and comfort. Our citizens entered on the
business of manufactures with great energy and enterprise ; in-
vested in them many millions of capital — and having, during the
thirty months while the war continued, the domestic market
secured to them, they succeeded wonderfully. Never was there a
prouder display of the power of industry, than was aflbrded on
this occasion. Unaided by the expenditure of a single dollar by
our government, they attained, in two or three years, a degree of
maturity in manufactures, which required centuries in England,
Prance, Prussia, &c. — and cost their governments enormous sums,
in the shape of bounties, premiums, drawbacks, with the fostering
aid of privileges and immunities bestowed on the undertakers.
The supply became conmiensurate with the demand ; and full
confidence was entertained that the government and nation, to
whose aid they came forward in time of need, would not abandon
the fond thus laid by has accumulated, in four years, to the sum of twenty
six thousand and four hundred dollars, or about eleven per cent, on the
whole amount of wages paid.
" It will be observed, that no less than thirty-nine thousand females find
employment in the cotton factories of the United States, whose aggregate
wages amount to upwards of four millions of dollars annually. This
immense sum, paid for the wages of females, may be considered as so much
clear gain to the country. Daughters are emphatically a blessing to the
farmer. Many instances have occurred within the personal knowledge of
this committee, in which the earnings of daughters have been scrupulously
hoarded, to enable them to pay off mortgages on the paternal farm."
206 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL BLATER.
them to destruction. Previous to the revolution, they had no com-
petitors in the markets of their country but their fellow-sul)jects of
Great Britain. Now they have competitors from almost every
part of Europci and from the East Indies. The case of the paper-
makers in 1818|iafrords proof of this disadvantage. One half of
them in the middle states were ruined — not by the importation of
British paper, of which httle came to this market, but by French
and Italian, with which our markets were deluged for two or three
years after the last war. By an investigation ordered in 1819, by
the citizens of Philadelphia, it appears so great was the decay of
manufacturing industry that, in only thirty out of fifty-six branches
of business, there were actually 7728 persons less employed in 1819
than in 1816.
It was reported, '' That embarrassment is universal ; that the
sordid and avaricious are acquiring the sacrificed property of the
liberal and industrious ; that so much property is exposed to sale
under execution, that buyers cannot be had to pay more for it than
the fees of ofQce."
All nations and communities have fallen to decay, in proportion
as they abandoned, and have prospered in proportion as they pro-
tected, the industry of their people. There are great advantages
tb agriculture from the vicinity of manufacturing establishments.
The settlement at Harmony, in the state of Pennsylvania, was
begun in 1804, and is probably the only settlemeiit ever made in
America in which, firom the outset, agriculture and manufactures
proceeded hand in hand together. The progress to wealth and
prosperity, therefore, ha.<< been far beyond any previous example in
this country. In 1809, they built a fulling mill, which does a
great deal of business for the country, a hemp mill, an oil mill, a
grist mill, a brick warehouse, 46 by 36 feet, having a wine cellar
completely arched over ; and another brick building of the same
dimensions. A considerable quantity of land was cleared. The
produce of this year was 6000 bushels of Indian com ; 4600
bushels of wheat ; and they distilled 1600 bushels of rye. In 1810,
a wool-carding machine and two spinning jennies were erected,
for the fabrication of broad cloth from the wool of merino sheep.
A frame barn was built, 100 feet lon^, and a brick house built, to
accommodate 20 weavers' looms. In the wool loft, eight or ten
women were employed in teazing and sorting the wool for the
carding machine, which is at a distance on the creek. From thence
the roves are brought to the spinning house in the town, where we
found two roving billies and six spinning jennies at work. They
were principally wrought by young girls, and they appeared per-
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 207
fectly happy, singing church music most melodiously. In the
weaving house, sixteen looms were at work, besides several warp-
ers and winders. We there saw the soap and candle works ; the
dye works ; shearing and dressing works ; the turners, carpenters,
and machine makers ; aiid we were conducted through the ware-
houses, which we found plentifully stored with commodities ; —
among others 450 pieces of broad and narrow cloth, part of it
merino wool, and of as good a fabric as any that ever was made
in England. In 1813 they could sell the best broad cloth, as fast
as made, at ten dollars per yard. The society in 1811 consisted
of about 800 persons, and the operative members as follows : —
one hundred farmers, three shepherds, ten masons, three stone-
cutters, three brick-makers, ten carpenters, two sawyers, ten
smiths, two wagon makers, three turners, two nailers, seven
coopers, three rope makers, ten shoemakers, two saddlers, three
tanners, seven tailors, one soap boiler, one brewer, four distillers,
one gardener, two grist millers, two oil millers, one butcher, six
joiners, six dyers, dressers, shearers, &c., one fuller, two hatters,
two potters, two warpers, seventeen weavers, two carders, eight
spinners, one rover, one minister of religion, one schoolmaster,
one doctor, one storekeeper with two assistants, and one tavern
keeper with one assistant. The original stock in 1804, was
$20,000, which was expended in the purchase of land, and in
supporting themselv^es till they commenced their operations. And
in 1811, their property amounted to the sum of $220,000. To
this delightful picture of the effects of a judicious distribution of
industry, the statesman ought to direct his eyes steadily. It holds
out a most instructive lesson on the true policy to promote human
happiness, and to advance the wealth, power, and resources of
nations. Hundreds of places might be mentioned, where the
establishment of manufactories, by affording an extensive and ad-
vantageous market to the farmer, doubled and trebled the price of
the lands in their neighbourhood — and increased in an equal de-
gree the comforts and prosperity of the farmers.
A nation peopled only by farmers, must be a region of indolence
and misery. If the soil is naturally fertile, little labour will pro-
duce abundance ; but for want of exercise even that little labour
will be burdensome and often neglected. Want will be felt in the
midst of abundance ; and the human mind be abased nearly to
the same degree with the beasts that graze in the field. If the re-
gion is more barren, the inhabitants will be obliged to become
somewhat more industrious, and therefore more happy. Those
therefore who wish to make agricultuie flourish in any country,
208 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
can have no hope of succeeding in the attempt but by bringing
commerce and manufactures to her aid ; which by taking from
the &rmer his superfluous produce, gives spirit to his operations,
and life and activity to his mind. Without this stimulus to ac-
tivity, in vain do we use arguments to rouse the sluggish inhabit-
ants. In vain do we discover that the earth is capable of pro-
ducing the most luxuriant harvests with little labour. Our own
abundant crops are produced as undeniable proofs of this in vain.
But place a manufacturer in the neighbourhood, who will buy
every little article that the farmer can bring to market, and he will
soon become industrious — the most barren fields will become
covered with some useful produce. Instead of listless vagabonds,
unfit for any service, the country will abound with a hardy and
robust race of men. When one nation receives only luxuries
from another, and pays for them in the necessaries of life, or
specie, or in raw materials which would find employment for its
own people, commerce is pernicious ; but when conducted on fiur
and reciprocal terms, it tends to civilise, and increase the comforts
of the great family of mankind. Suppose that England were to
furnish France with her raw wool, lead, tin, iron, flax and hemp,
and to receive in return merino shawls, silks, satins, pearl neck-
laces, diamond watches, (kc. — the most devoted advocate for com-
merce would allow this species of it to be extremely pernicious.
And it is as absurd as impolitic, and as cruel to our citizens, who
can manufacture cotton goods for us, to export raw cotton and
receive cambrics and muslins in return, as it would be for England
to export her wool, and import her woollen manufactures.
The war of 1812 was closed under the most favourable auspices.
The country was every where prosperous. Inestimable manufac-
turing establishments, in which probably 60,000,000 of dollars
were invested, were spread over the face of the land, and diffusing
happiness among thousands of industrious people. No man,
woman, or child, able and willing to work, was unemployed.
With almost every possible variety of soil and climate — and like-
wise with the three greatest staples in the world — cotton, wool,
and iron ; the first, to an extent commensurate with our utmost
wants, and a capacity to produce the other two — a sound policy
would have rendered us more independent, probably, of foreign
supplies, for all the comforts of life, than any other nation what-
ever.
Peace, nevertheless, was fraught with destruction to the hopes
and happiness of a considerable portion of the manufacturers.
The double duties had been imposed with a limitation to one year
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 209
afler the close of the war. And a tariff as a substitute was pre-
pared by the secretary of the treasury, with duties fixed at the
minimum rates which he thought calculated to afford them protec-
tion. On many of them, these rates were insufficient. Yet had
his tariff been adopted, it would probably have saved the country
forty or fifty millions of dollars, and prevented a large portion of
the deep distress that pervaded the land, and which drove
legislative bodies to the desperate measure of suspending the
course of justice. But a deep-rooted jealousy of manufacturers
was entertained by many members of congress, on the ground
of imputed extortion during the war; and the old hacknied
themes of *• taxing the many for the benefit of the few," — the
country not being ripe for manufactures — wages being too
high — the inmiensity of our back lands, &c. were still regarded
as unanswerable arguments. In consequence of the combined
operation of these causes, the rates were reduced on most of the
leading articles, ten, fifteen, and in some cases, thirty per cent.
Every per cent, reduced was regarded, by many of the members
of congress, as so much clear gain to the country. Some of them
appeared to consider manufactures as a sort of common enemy,
with whom no terms ought to be observed. Some of them held
the broad doctrine, that every dollar paid as duty or bounty to
encourage manufactures, is a dollar robbed out of the pockets of
the farmers and planters.
From year to year since that time, ruin spread among the
manufacturers. A large portion of them have been reduced to
bankruptcy, from ease and affluence. Most of them had entered
into the business during the war, under an impression, as I have
already stated, that there was a sort of implied engagement on the
part of the government that, having been found so useful in time
of need, they would not be allowed to be crushed aflerwjurds. To
what extent there was any foundation for this idea, I am unable
to decide. Suffice it to say, that all the calculations predicted on
it were wholly and lamentably disappointed. The strong arm of
government, which alone could save them from the overwhelming
influx of foreign manufactures, by which they were destroyed, was
not interposed in their behalf Noble estaUishments, the pride
and ornament of the country, which might have been rendered
sources of incalculable public and private wealth, and which
Edward III., Henry lY., Frederic the Great, and Catherine II.
would have saved at the expense of millions, if necessary, were
mouldering to ruins. And to crown the whole, millions of capital
which had every claim to the protection of government, liad
27
310 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
become a dead and heavy loss to the proprietors. At every stage
of this avfal progress, the devoted sufferers not only app^ed to
the justice, but threw themselves on the mercy, of their represen-
tatives. The utmost powers of eloquence were exhausted in those
appeals, some of which may be ranked among the proudest monu-
ments of human talents. In the second session of the fourteenth
congress, 1816-17, there were above forty memorials presented to
the house of representatives from manufacturers in different parts
of the United States, and some of them, particularly that from
Pittsburg, fraught with tales of ruin and destruction, that would
have softened the heart of a Herod. M>t one of them was ever read
in the house ! The following are a few short specimens of the
fiicts and reasonings they placed before the eyes of congress : —
The Philadelphia memorial holds this language : — " We regard
with the most serious concern the critical and dangerous situa-
tion in which our manufactures are placed by the recent extrava-
gant importations of rival articles, which, owing to the great
surplus of them, and to the pressure of money, are in many cases
sold at such reduced prices, as to render it impossible for our
manufactures to compete with them. We believe that with the
interests of the manufacturers are connected the best interests of
the nation — and that if the manufactures of the country are
deprived of that support from the legislature of the United States,
to which we think they are fairly entitled, the evil will be felt not
by us merely, but by the whole nation ; as it will produce the
inevitable consequence of an un&vourable balance of trade,
whereby our country will be impoverished, and rendered tributary
to foreign powers, whose interest are in direct hostility with ours."
The Pittsburg memorial says : — " The committee have found
that the manufacture of cottons, woollens, flint, glass, and the finer
articles of iron, has lately suffered the most alarming depression.
Some branches which have been several years in operation, have
been destroyed or partially suspended; and others, of a more
recent growth, annihilated before they were completely in opera-
tion. The tide of importation has inundated our country with
foreign goods. Some of the most valuable and enterprising
citizens have been subjected to enormous losses, and others over-
whelmed with bankruptcy and ruin. The pressure of war
was less fatal to the hopes of enterprise and industry, than a
general peace with the calamities arising from the present state of
our foreign trade. It was confidently believed, that the destinies
of the United States would no longer depend on the jealousy and
caprice of foreign governments, and that our national fr^om
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUfllNEflS. 811
and welfare were fixed on the solid basis of our intrinsic means
and energies. But these were ' airy dreams ;' a peace was con-
cluded with England, and in a few months we were prostrate at
her feet. The manufacturers appealed to the general government
for the adoption of measures that might enable them to resist the
torrent that was sweeping away the fruits of their capital and
industry. Their complaints were heard with a concern which
seemed a pledge for the return of better days. The tariff of duties,
established at the last session of congress, and the history of the
present year, will demonstrate the falsity of their expectations.
England never suffered a foreign government, or a combination
of foreign capitalists, by glutting her own market, to crush in the
cradle any branch of her domestic industry. She never regarded
with a cold indifference the ruin of thousands of her industrious
people, by the competition of foreigners. The bare avowal of
such an attempt would have incurred the indignant resistance of
the whole body of the nation, and met the firowns, if not the
instant vengeance of the government. The consequences of this
policy in England are well known; her manufactures have
become a source of wealth incalculable; the treasures of Spanish
America are poured into her lap ; her commerce is spread over
every ocean, and, with a population comparatively small, she is
the terror and the spoiler of Europe. Take from England her
manufactures, and the fountains of her wealth would be broken
up ; her pre-eminence among nations would be lost for ever. For
a speedy redress of such pressing evils, we look to the government
of the Union. WiU they uphold the sinking manufactures of the
country, or will they not ? Are their late assurances of aid and
protection forgotten with the crisis that gave them birth 1 Let
them realise the hopes of the country, and act with decision
before it be too late. In the United States we have the know-
ledge of the labour-saving machinery, the raw material, and pro-
visions cheaper than in Britain ; but the overgrown capital of the
British manufacturer, and the dexterity acquired by long experi-
ence, make a considerable time and heavy duties necessary for
our protection. We have beaten England out of our markets in
hats, boots, and all manufactures of leather ; we are very much
her superior in ship-building ; these are all the work of the hands,
where labour-saving machinery gives no aid ; so that her supe-
riority over us, in manufactures, consists more in the excellence
and nicety of the labour-saving machinery, than in the wages of
of labour. With all their jealousy and restrictions upon the
emigration of workmen, the distreves and misfortunes of Eng-
212 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
land wQl, by due encouragement, send much of her skill and
knowledge to our shores ; let us be ready to take full benefit of
such events, as England herself did when despotic laws in Ger-
many, and other parts of Europe, drove their manufacturers into
Britain, which laid the foundation of her present eminence. That
the cotton trade and manufacture is a concern of vast importance,
and even of leading interest to the country is a truth, your memo-
rialists conceive, too palpable to be denied or doubted. Were not
our own constant observation and daily experience sufficient to
establish it, the prodigious exertions of our ever-vigilant and inde-
fiitigable rival, directed against this particular interest, would
place the matter beyond a question. For where a judicious and
enterprising opponent (as England undoubtedly is in this respect)
directs her strongest engines of hostility, we have reason to con-
clude there lies our vital and most important concerns.
^ This consideration is coming home to us with more and more
force; and the cotton planter, as well as the manu&cturer, must
have before this time discovered the alarming fact, that our great
rival has become possessed of both our plants and seeds of cotton,
which she is employing all her vast means to propagate in the
East Indies and other British possessions, with an energy and
success which threaten the most alarming consequences. When
your memorialists consider that the article thus jeoparded is the
great staple of the country, they cannot but hope the people and
their representatives will be generally convinced that it is not the
interest of individuals alone that is at stake, but that of the whole
community. An appeal is made to the equity, to the patriotism
of the southern statesman ; his aid and co-operation is invoked for
the relief of the suffering manu&ctures of the northern and middle
states. In the interior of the United States, few articles can be
raised which will bear a distant transportation; products much
more valuable, when the grower and consumer are near each
other, are therefore excluded from cultivation. A dependence on
foreign markets, in the most prosperous times, necessarily restricts
the labours of agriculture to a very few objects ; a careless, de-
crepit, and unprofitable cultivation is the known result. The
propriety of these observatione may, in some degree, be illustrated
by the difference in value between the land in the vicinity of a
large town, and at a greater distance from it. The labour which
produces the greatest quantity of subsistence is bestowed in the
culture of articles too cumbrous for transportation ; and in general,
a farm which will subsist fifty persons in its vicinity, would not
subsist the fifth of that number three hundred miles off. If the
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 213
value of land be so much enhanced by the proximity of a market,
and so rapidly diminished by the distance of transportation, the
introduction of manu&ctories, and the creation of an interior
market, ought to be regarded as peculiarly auspicious to the in-
terests of agriculturists. Confining our views to the western
country, we might emphatically ask, with what exportable com-
modities shall we restore the balance of trade, now fast accumu-
lating against us? How arrest the incessant drain of capital?
Our manu&ctures are perishing around us, and already millions
have escaped never to return."
The Oneida Memorial says : — " That the above county con-
tains a greater number of manufacturing establishments, of cotton
and woollen, than any other coimty in the state, there being
invested in said establishments at least $ 600,000. That although
the utmost efforts have been made by the proprietors to sustain
those establishments, their efforts have proved fruitless, and more
than three fourths of the factories remain, necessarily, closed;
some of the proprietors being wholly ruined, and others struggling
under the greatest embarrassment. In this alarming situation,
we beg leave to make a last appeal to the congress of the United
States. While we make this appeal, our present and extensive
embarrassments in most of the great departments of industry, as
well as the peculiar difficulty in affording immediate relief to
manufacturers, are fully seen and appreciated ; yet your petitioners
cannot believe that the legislature of the Union will remain an
indifferent spectator of the wide-spread ruin of their fellow citizens,
and look on and see a great branch of industry, of the utmost
importance in every community, prostrated under circumstances
fetal to all future attempts at revival, without a further effort for
relief We would not magnify the subject which we now present
to congress, beyond its just merits, when we state it to be one of
the utmost importance to the future interests and welfare of the
United States. It is objected that the entire industry of the coun-
try may be most profitably exerted in clearing and cultivating our
extended vacant lands. But what does it avail the farmer, when
neither in the nation from which h^ purchases his goods, or else-
where, can he find a market for his abundant crops ! Besides, the
diversion of labour from agriculture to manufactures, is scarcely
perceptible. Five or six adults, with the aid of children, will
manage a cotton manufactory of two thousand spindles."
I have found but few letters of Mr. Slater's, and these are chiefly
to his agents on business ; extracts fironi some of them will serve
to show his views of punctuality and correctness in all his con-
214 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL 8LATEB.
cems ; some of them evince also a shrewdness of observation, and
a dry humour, which were characteristic of the man, and of his
communications. It was a peculiar trait in him to disUke change,
either in his agents of any persons in his employment. He knew
when he was well served, and, when persons did his business well,
no flattering inducement would cause him to employ new persons.
Some of his agents in Salem, Boston, New York, Philadelphia
and Baltimore, became the first houses in those cities. And some,
who had been clerks in his employment, became first rate men of
business. Whether as president of the bank in Pawtucket, or in
the payment of a labourer, there was the same exactness and in-
tegrity. Few men ever conducted so much business, with so
much ease, and with so much good-will from those connected with
him, as Mr. Slater. He had no tricks, no double dealing, all was
open, fair and honourable.*
Mr, Elijah Waring,
N. Providence, February 23d, 1814^
Dear Sir, — Your esteemed favour, under date of December 29th last, and
the contents of which, were duly received. I have delayed answering it
some time in order to more fully make up my mind relative to some parts
of the subject under cousideration. Your observations respecting a perma-
nent agent fully coincides with my ideas and wishes in that part, although
not suggested to you in mine of the 25th. Placing full reliance on your
extensive experience and knowledge in that point, I did not then, or now,
conceive it necessary to enter into a specification of the permanency of an
agent, dtc. dtc. In legard to the amount I shall have for the Philadelphia
market, from the Oxford factory, I presume, during one year from this time,
I shall have about one hundred thousand dollars for sale, more than half of
which I should wish to send to Philadelphia. At times, Almy and Brown,
and myself, have conversation on the subject of my vending one third pait
*His connection with Almy and Brown, who were of the Society of
Friends, fastened him in the principles of economy and utility. Few men,
except those who have been personally engaged in business, know the triaif
and perplexities which men of business endure; and there is not always suf-
ficient allowance made for their irritable feelings, and for the difficulties in
which they are involved. Mr. Slater, in early life, was sometimes serere
in his expressions. He was always silent with regard to his business, and
disliked that his men should speak of where he was going, or of what he
was about ; he also disliked any one who was inquisitive or prying about his
affairs, and he never interfered with other people's matters. Some of his
men had mentioned in the village, that Mr. Slater was going to Boston next
morning; he found that they had spoken of it: he went to the mill, in some
anger, and asked them if they could not keep their insides from dropping
out; alluding to the old woman, who parted with a secret entrusted to her,
for fear of losing more important parts of her existence.
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. fil5
of the yarn and goods made here, and my quarter part of the yarn and goods
at Smithfield factories. In that case an agent may reasonably calculate on
being supplied with more than a hundred thousand dollars annually, besides
an additional amount arising fVom an increase of machinery. But in ease
of an alteration in sales of goods made here, and at Smithfield factories, I,
conceive you would claim a right of selling what were sent to the Philadel*
phia market, and I should not feel justified in durtailins your present sup-
plies, dtc. Samuel Haydock is now selling goods for four or five companies.
Do Almy & Brown fully supply you with goods to meet all the calls for
them ? From yqur last orders to them, I fear they will not be competent to
meet the whole of them this year.
Provided you cannot, without taking too much trouble, meet with an
agent that will undertake the agency for me, who is likely to continue in
the business for me, during storms and calms, I shall be induced to consign
the goods to Messrs. Gilman &. Annison, who have strongly solicited an
agency of my business. They are doubtless good men, but I fear they will
desert from selling American goods, (should commerce revive) to selling
English, which desertion would not be a pleasant thing to me. On the
receipt of this, I will thank you to give me your candid opinion on the fore-
going points ; and any new idea that may occur to you, you will have
the goodness to communicate it, which will be gratefully received by
yours, &>c. Sakitel Slater.
To Jeremiah Brown, Philadelphia,
The cotton business now appears very gloomy and I fear will continue.
Many establishments are stopped. And many have already done it of their
own accord, and many are daily stopping from mere necessity, they being
indebted to a much larger amount, than every thing they possessed would
bring under the hammer, I hope you will do the best you can for the Oxford
companies, in obtaining fair prices for them, as to keep them from being
daily harassed with sheriffs, who have stripped many of every thing they
were possessed of.*
* The annexed schedule of Mr. Slater's estate in 1817, will serve to show
the progress of his business.
'* I own the house, Jbc, in which I live in Pawtucket, one other house, and
six house lots, one house and land in Seekonk, and third part of the old fac-
tory, so called, counting fifteen hundred spindles, water privilege, stores, and
five dwelling houses ; and one third part of three farms in Attleborough and
Saybrook. One house and lots near Hartford, also one quarter part of seve-
ral buildings and lots in Providence. One quarter of a brick house in Boston,
on"^ quarter of the estate in Smithfield, containing two cotton factories, with
between five and six thousand spindles, together with three water privileges,
about thirty-five good houses and twelve hundred acres of land. My estate
in Oxford, Mass., consisting of one cotton factory of two thousand spindles,
one woollen establishment, grist and saw mill, sixteeen dwelling houses
and seven hundred acres of land. Also one handsome farm in Pelham, and
a right in six mortgaged estates, to the amount of ten thousand dollars,
which I shall have to hold."
216 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
Almost every manufacturer is dow shivering in the wind, and when and
where the present distress among them all will stop^ time alone will unfold.
Flour will pay the exchange.
A great many of the establishments for spinning cotton in this section
of the country are stopping, either all or a part. I hope goods will conunand
a higher price next month than they now do.
New Providence, August 14th, IS 16.
J, ^ M, Brovm,
Gentlemen, — Your favour under date of the 8th inst. was duly received,
covering a bill of $2100 in specie, per the sloop Dove, which arrived to day
about noon.
The Lively has not yet made her appearance here. I wish she had the
Vfings of the Dove, I told the owners yesterday, that if she was my vessel
I would change her name. Several persons to-day, on seeing the Dove
arrive, and learning that she had not seen or heard any thing from the
Lively, were induced to insure. However, I hope she will still arrire safe
and sound.
N. B. Please give me, in your next, a price current of specie and cotton
goods.^
June llthy 1816.— The box of specie has arrived, and on counting it thmt
was twenty-five cents over.
In consequence of almost all the cotton factories being stopped in this
country, the general idea is, that cotton goods* and yarn, too, will soon
advance; under these considerations, will it be advisable to force sales?
Will thank you to make an arrangement with some of your merchant
tailors, to supply the Oxford mills with a few thousand yards good listing,
and less than one inch wide ; the general price when money was plenty, and
also when the rope-makers wanted many of them, was about a cent per yard,
hope they are no higher now. As many of the tailors have them wound
into large balls (the inside of which are very poor,) I fear it will not answer
to take them in that state without examining them, unless your tailors are
much honester than ours here.
December 3d, 1817. — I left New York on Friday morning last, and arrived
here in about thirty-five hours with my family all in good healtli. Request
Daniel Large to send roe five tons of his best pig iron, on trial, that ia suit-
able to make soft iron in an air furnace.
Feb, 1th, 1816. — As soon as you can procure some specie or good drafts,
* Extract of a letter from Moaes Brown at Providence^ to Jeremiah
Brown of Philadelphia.
Dear Brother, — I have already seen several of our friends, and last even-
ing had the pleasure of introducing to friend Samuel Slater, his brother,
whom he had not seen for thirty years. He arrived four days ago at New
York, from Liverpool, and accidentally we both met in the packet. Samuel
did not recognise his brother, as 1 introduced him as a person recently
arrived from Derbyshire, England, and who knew his friends there. He
does not resemble Samuel, but has a very striking resemblance to John.
[This meeting was like the one fotmeily noticed.]
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 917
at t fair discount, yon will forward either, so as to enable us to keep our
cAtfw above water.
Nov, 5thj 1817. — My brother and I have agreed to weigh our sheet anchor
to-morrow for Philadelphia and Baltimore. Accommodate Mr. Dean with
$300.
June 6thj 1816. The box of specie has not arrived. The copperas has
arrived, and on examining it, find a pait of it real good English copperas,
and a part of it yery poor American. One of the casks was entirely new,
which I condemned before it was opened, and it turned out to be poor.
Business is very poor here ; how is it in Philadelphia?
March 30th, 1818. — I am extremely sorry that the mother bank is under
the necessity of suspending giving drafts on the branches, especially to those
who make their deposits with her. The alteration will seriously a£fect many
of the manufacturers in New England. In short, I do not see how I shall
get along, unless you obtain the specie for me, as post notes will be shortly
one or two per cent, below par, at least, if I am under the necessity of going
to a broker to get them transmuted into our money.
May Sth, 1818. — Mr. Tyson wrote you a few days past of my serious
disaster ; my many pains and bruises roimd my head and body are rather
iobsiding; so that I think I can truly say that my shattered leg is the most
painful. By S, Slater^ Jim.
April 2lst, 1818. — The Providence iron foundry is greatly in want of pig
iron. Hope the first lot is under way. If you can obtain them for some-
thing less than forty-five dollars, you will add ten tons more.
March 19th, 1816. — As respects goods, I sincerely hope that a very con-
siderable quantity will be sent you from Oxford this season, notwithstanding
a part of the spindles are motionless, as is the case almost every where*
Goods cannot be made now from the high priced cotton, without a loss to
the manufacturers, therefore it behoves every consignee to sell the goods for
as much as they will possibly command. I wrote to S. db T. about 10 days
past, to forward you every piece of coloured goods they had on hand. If
you can purchase one or two tons of good English copperas at $2,75 or
nearly that, you will forward it.
April 27, 1818. — A Providence friend of mine showed me a letter to
day which he had recently received from his correspondent in Philadelphia,
stating that you, he, and others, could not obtain more than about thirty
cents for good ginghams, on a credit of from four to six months. If the
advice is correct, I fear we shall all be bankrupted in a heap. Do advise
me in your next whether or not your market is so squally.
Sept, 17, 1816. — With respect to crediting western merchants, in lieu'
of an acceptance in the city of Philadelphia — If some of them should ap-
pear to buy goods on credit, on note or book account, and you are fully
satisfied from personal knowledge of them, or, 'from good references, that
they are actually trustworthy, then I conceive it would be advisable to credit
some of them, but, still, don't lose sight of obtaining acceptances in your
city when practicable. As almost every one here is of opinion that Phila-
delphia money will still improve, therefore, you will purchase only about
1500 dollars specie until further advised, which you will forward by first
packet. As respects the Lively being a dull sailer, I have been of the
opinion, that the old captain of her was a duller sailor than she. Now there
28
218 MEMOIR OF 8AMUEL SLATER.
being a new captain, probably she will get along somewhat faster. In re-
gard to sending you some coarse twist from here, (Pawlucket,) it is not prac-
ticable, having scarcely a pound on hand. I hope you will receive some of
it from Oxford before long. Can you obtain a good, neat thermometer for
me in Philadelphia, for about four dollars ? if you can, please forward one.
Dec, 23, 1817. — Four cases of goods from Oxford arrived in Providence,
the middle of last week, and my young man wrote he should send down
two more cases in a day or two — all of which I have engaged to go by way
of New York, so that they may be in Philadelphia seasonably for the spring
sales. The household goods arrived in Providence per the Dove, on Friday
last, in excellent order, which I attribute to your particular care in having
them well packed, for which, and many other like favours, I consider myself
greatly indebted to you, which I hope a long life will enable me to discharge,
and in the interim, remain with every respect your assured friend.
May 19, 1818. — In consequence of Sea Island cotton being seventy-fiye
cents per pound, Almy & Brown and myself have concluded that threadi|
and all first quality yarns, must command higher prices, or it will not be
wisdom in us to make them. I am sorry that your J. B. is going into the
western states this summer, because, I fear, it will deprive me of seeing
either of you in New England this season. With respect to my own bodily
infirmities, I ought to rejoice and be thankful, that I am getting along, be-
yond all human calculations. You will please to remit as usual, money
still being a cash article and in demand.
May 14, 18 IS. — I received yours of the 8th inst. this day, it took t trip
by the way of Taunton.
I remain still flat on my back, day and night, attended with considerable
pain, but am thankful I am still favoured to remain in the land of the living:
I have been blessed with good medical aid, and also with a kind and very
attentive nurse, (Mrs. Slater,) which tends very much to mitigate pain.
I hope a few more solitary weeks will favour me with a peep at the sun
at least. It is a sad misfortune to me, as it would be to any other person.
However, I hope I bear it with all the resignation and fortitude a rational
man ought to do. . Hoping I may contine to be favoured, gaining slowly,
until I am once more restored, <S6C. By Samuel Slaier^ Jr.
Taking a retrospective view of the state of society, previous to
the American revolution, with regard to English manufactureS|
will enable us to form a better estimate of the progress which we
have made here. Sixty years since, the cotton establishments in
England were but in embryo. Their commencement was small
and imperfect, and the use of linen was so prevalent, and so es-
teemed, that it retarded the consumption of the cotton article,
especially at home ; where habits and fashion are not very easily
withstood or overcome. Arkwrio^ht did for Old England, in a
certain degree, what Slater has done for America, in a much more
extensive, and vastly more important situation.*
* As soon as the business increased, new difficulties arose ; the operatives
began by demanding exorbitant wages, which Mr. Slater resisted, against
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BXTSINESS. 319
A memoir of Slater must necessarily include a history of the
rise and progress of our manufacturing establishments : for it is
with them that his whole life has been connected. He embarked
himself, body, soul, and spirit, in this enterprise ; and he was so
absorbed in his object that every other consideration was compa-
ratively neglected. The extent of Mr. Slater's business, and the
&ct that he attended to so much of it himself, rendered it impossi-
ble to divide his time for other considerations.
This devotion to business prevented much attention being paid
to literature or politics. The Romans held trade in a very low
estimation ; they prohibited men of birth and rank from engaging
in commerce, of which the code speaks contemptuously; and
Cicero says, it was not fitting that the same people should be both
the porters and the masters of the world. This kind of contempt
was common in this country previous to 1812. We had better
have our ^^ workshops*^ in Europe, was the language of some of our
wiseacres : forgetting that wealth consists of the savings of indus-
try, after supplying immediate demands. An instinct, prompting
the human being, after his appetites of hunger and thirst are
appeased, and his person protected against the elements of heaven,
to labour from the mere delight of accumulating ; and to the
ceaseless industry which this instinct produces, is to be ascribed
the wealth with which civilised man is every where surrounded.
It prompts the husbandman, the artisan, the manufacturer, the
merchant, to activity in their several vocations ; it is one of the
sources, when properly directed, of the comforts and elegances of
life. The prodigal spends his last shilling and leaves nO trace
behind him. The laborious artisap, who consumes only half the
produce of his labour, leaves the other half as a contribution to
the stock of national capital, to maintain and set in motion the
industry of generations yet unborn. These, if animated by the
same spirit, will leave it with new accessions, and so keep increas*
ing.*
He spent nothing for show and appearance in his buildings ;
the advice of others ; and ia this he was right, for by submitting to unrea-
sonable demands, he would only have given them occasion to call for still
greater. He therefore took his stand, and risked the consequences. They
stolt his patterns and models, and set up for themselves, but generally failed.
In the management of help, and establishing order and discipline, Mr.
Slater showed great abilities, and he could arrange his affairs easier than
any other person.
*'^ You hare heard of the hills of Berkshire, (Mass.) ; you have heard of
the beautiful and classic stream of the Hoasatonic ; of the Hoosae, studded
820 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
Utility and durability he considered all-important. The enlarge-
ment of his business called forth all his business talents. His
commanding and penetrating eye was formed, by nature, for the
best of government; and it is astonishing what effect even his look
had, on those who waited his orders and direction. It was not
the look of pride, contempt, or disdain : he never appeared to feel
above the poorest of his help. It was the indication of a superior
judgment and experience, in whatever business he undertook:
this caused every one to be obedient to his directions. No one
could be conceited enough to suppose that they knew better than
he did ; for every one had been taught by him : this was what
commanded respect, and enabled him to carry on his afl^urs
without difficulties and tumults. His dislike of all ostentation
and extravagance was excessive ; and he was always severe and
sarcastic upon the young men in his employment who spent all
their earnings in dress and follies.
Those who were beginning in business, he cautioned against
building before they had counted the cost ; and the idea of failure
impressed him with horror. He therefore disapproved of a loose
way of doing business ; and foretold the consequences which, un«
happily, proved not to be mere groundless forebodings, for nearly
all &iled round him. Young Lord Bolingbroke and Mr. ShekbUi
two English gentlemen, who were in Providence about this timSi
visited Mr. Slater, and recognised in him the son of one of
the respectable yeomanry of Derbyshire. These young men
brought with them a purse of gold, of ten thousand guineas each|
and spent the whole in a &w years ; wjiile Slater, by his perse-
vering industry, realised a fortune.
It is of all things, that which most effectually conduces to a
flourishing state of agriculture. The uniform appearance of an
abundance of specie, as the concomitant of a flourishing state of
manufactures, and of the reverse, where they do not prevail|
afford a strong presumption of their favourable operation upon the
wealth of a country. Not only the wealth, but the independence
and security of a country, appear to be materially connected with
with thriring manufacturing villages. There was a time, not long since,
when the temptations of more fertile regions appeared so great, that it
seemed that those hills must be deserted ; that those streams must be leA to
flow on in solitude ; but then came the beneficial influence of the policy of
protection to American industry, and then was developed, along our beautiful
streams, and among our wild waterfalls, a power which, by the application
of native industry, has clothed our hills with plenty, and placed our young
men^yond the reach of the temptations of the fertile west." — BockwelL
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 821
the prosperity of manufactures. Every nation, with a view to
these great objects, ought to endeavour to possess within itself all
the essentials of national supply. These comprise the means of
subsistence, habitation, clothing and defence. Considering a
monopoly of the domestic market to its own manufactures as the
reigning policy of manufacturing nations, a similar policy on the
part of the United States, in every proper instance, is dictated, it
might almost be said by the principles of distributive justice —
certainly by the duty of securing to their own citizens a recipro-
city of advantages. Whatever this country has suffered or may
suffer, by a contrary policy, is justly attributable to a disregard of
these maxims, which comprise the fundamental principles of poli-
tical economy. " If Europe will not take from us the products of
our soil, on terms consistent with our interest, the natural remedy
is, to contract as fast as possible our wants of her."*
In order to estimate correctly the progress of American manu-
&ctures, we must keep in mind the state of the English, only sixty
years since. Their progress was slow for many centuries, and it
is only within the last fifty years, that they have arisen to such
perfection. A reference to their hi/story will not be misplaced, but
will be read with much interest.
The following is from Baines's History of the Cotton Manufac-
ture : —
" The cotton manufacture arose in this country at a critical
period of our history. England had just lost her American colo-
nies, but that loss was more than compensated by this new source
of prosperity springing up at home. The genius of our mecha-
nics repaired the errors of our statesmen. In the long and fearful
struggle which followed the French revolution, this country was
mainly supported by its conmierce ; and the largest, though the
newest branch of that commerce, was furnished by the cotton
manufacture. To Arkwright and Watt England is &r mq^
indebted for her triumphs, than to Nelson and Wellington. With-
out the means supplied by her flourishing manufactures and trade,
^ Paterson, in New Jersey, at the close of the war, exhibited an appear-
ance of prosperity and happiness scarcely exceeded in the world. But in
1822, it was said, there was not a single cotton establishment in the place,
then in the possession of the original proprietors, as they had been almost
universally ruined ! This is a fact, the force of which fifty columns of news-
paper essays and paragraphs, and fifty speeches of ten hours each, could not
obviate. One manufactory in that town, which cost $100,000, has been sold
for $19,000. What masses of misery, therefore, followed the want of sufficieat
proteetion J
288 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL 8LATSB.
the country could not have borne up under a conflict so prolong*
ed and exhausting. In the article of cottons alone, the exports
amounted, between 1793 and 1815, to £250,000,000. From 1816
to 1833 inclusive, the declared value of the cotton exports was
£306,167,518. Within the last half century, cottons to the enormous
value of £570,000,000 have been sent from this country to foreign
markets. It is obvious that a trade of this magnitude must have
contributed largely to sustain the revenue, to prevent the national
resources from being intolerably oppressed by taxation. The
question has been much canvassed, whether England is likely to
maintain the superiority she has gained among the nations of the
worldj in regard to the cotton manufacture. There are those who
prognosticate that she has already reached the highest point, and
is destined rapidly to decline from it. These individuals appre-
hend a competition too formidable to be withstood, on the part of
several foreign nations : — from the United States of America,
where the spinning machinery is equal to that of England, where
there are thousands of English workmen, where ingenuity and
enterprise eminently mark the national character, and where the
finest cotton is grown within the States themselves ; from Belgimii|
Switzerland, and other countries of Europe, where the manufac-
ture exists, and is rapidly extending, and where labour is lower
priced than in England ; and from the East Indies, where one or
two spinning mills have been established, and where in weaving,
if not in spinning, the natives are supposed to have a great advan-
tage, from their having so long been habituated to the employment,
and from the excessively low rate of wages they require.
" It is true, that each of these countries has, in some respects, an
advantage over England. It is true that the cotton manufisu^tuie
has acquired a great extent in the United States, and is advancing
rapidly in Germany and Switzerland. It would be in&ituation to
trifle with the safety of a manufacture which afibrds subsistence
to a million and a half of our population. Yet we see no ground
for apprehending that England will lose her present manufactur-
ing pre-eminence. All the natural and political causes which
originally made this a great manufacturing and commercial na-
tion remain unimpaired. There are advantages derived from the
established ascendency of our manufacturers, the importance of
which it would be difficult to over-estimate. Our master manu-
facturers, engineers, and artisans, are more intelligent, skilful and
enterprising than those of any other country ; and tlie extraordi-
nary inventions they have already made, and their familiarity with
all the principles and details of the business, will not only enable
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. SS3
them to perfect the processes already in use, but can hardly fail to
lead to the discovery of others. Our establishments for spinning,
weaving, printing, bleaching, &c., are infinitely more complete
and perfect than any that exist elsewhere ; the division of labour
in them is carried to an incomparably greater extent ; the work*
men are trained £rom infancy to industrious habits, and have
attained that peculiar dexterity and sleight of hand in the perform-
ance of their separate tasks, that can only be acquired by long and
unremitting application to the same employment. Another ad*
vantage consists in the almost unlimited amount of capital at the
disposal of the English manufacturer and merchant. The course
of mechanical and chemical improvement is not stopped. In each
of the countries mentioned as likely to compete successfully with
EIngland, there are circumstances unfavourable to such competi-
tion.
*' One of the original emporiums of thecotton manufisusture is the
establishment of the Messrs. Strutt situated in the fine valley of
the Derwent, a few miles below Cromford, the primitive seat of
the water-spinning-frames. The cotton &ctories of this eminent
family have for half a century furnished steady employment and
comfortable subsistence to a population of many thousand indivi-
duals. During this long period, the skill, prudence, and capital
of the proprietors have maintained their business in a state of pro-
gressive improvement, and nearly exempt from those fluctuations
which have so often, in that interval, spread seasons of distress
among agricultural labourers. So high is the character of their
stocking-yarns and threads for uniform excellence, that the stamp
of their firm on the great bale is a passport to their ready sale
without examination in every market of the world. Under their
auspices the handsome town of Belper has uprisen, built of hewn
stone, with streets flagged with the same, in regular houses on the
most commodious plans, where the operatives with their fiimilies
pass the tranquil tenor of their lives. The mills there, plainly
elegant, built also of stone, as well as their other mills at Millford,
three miles lower down the river, are driven altogether by eighteen
magnificent water-wheels possessing the power of 600 horses. A
self-acting governor attached to each wheel adjusts its velocity to
the purposes of the factory, and is never in a state of repose, but
is seen incessantly tightening or slackening the reins of the mill-
geering, so to speak, according to the number of machines moving
within, and the force of the stream acting without. As no steam-
engines are employed, this manufacturing village has quite the
picturesque air of an Italian scene, with its river, overhanging
224 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
woods, and distant range of hills. A neat refectory is fitted up
within the works, where any of the work-people, who choose, may
have a comfortable pint of hot tea or coffee, including sugar and
milk, for one hdlfpenny. The persons who regularly join in this
refreshment, become entitled to medical attendance gratis."
A dancing-room for the recreation of the young is also provided.
Dr. Ure says, " What I have myself witnessed at several times,
both on Sundays and working days, has convinced me that the
population of Belper is, in reference to health, domestic comfort,
and religious culture, in a truly* enviable state, compared with the
average of our agricultural villages. The factory rooms are well
aired, and as clean as any gentleman's parlour. The children are
well complexioned, and work with cheerful dexterity at their re-
spective occupations. Not one of Messrs. Strutt's work-people at
Belper was attacked with cholera, while the neighbouring handi-
craft people and farmers were falling victims to the pestilence."
Mr. Kempton, a respectable manufacturer in New Ekigland,
assured our central board, that factory labour for twelve or fourteen
hours is not found to be injurious to the health or growth of the
children of ten years of age and upwards in the States, because
they are well fed, their board being paid out of their wages by the
proprietors — an excellent practice, which would not, however, be
permitted by the pauper parents in England, who live too much
upon their children's earnings. In their manufacturing districts,
principally in New England, upwards of 4000 children are em-
ployed under twelve years of age.
The evidence collected in England proves, that under such a
diet as the wages could afford, the young inmates of our factories
would thrive equally well with the American. And as to the charge
which has been made of the injury done to their constitutions by
entering a &ctory in early life, the following refutation of it is
most decisive. There is one thing I feel convinced of jGrom obser-
vation — that young persons, especially females, who have begun
mill-work at from ten to twelve, independently of their becoming
much more expert artists, preserve their health better, and possess
sounder feet and legs at twenty-five, than those who have com-
menced from thirteen to sixteen and upwards.
I have drawn freely upon Dr. Ure, as a fund of genuine in-
formation.
It appears that the artisans of the United States are treated on
this principle; and they are accordingly declared to be more
moral than the agricultural population. " At our establishment,"
says our authority, Mr. Kempton, ^' the proprietors, deeply sensible
EXTENSION OF TUB COTTON BUSINESS. 226
•
of the value of religious nurture, paid the greater part of the
minister's salary after building a meeting-house ; and they fre-
quently officiated themselves at the evening meetings, which were
well attended. We would not keep any workers that would
drink spirits, nor did they at other establishments. Almost all of
them belong to the temperance societies. In the New England
states, no man will get employment who is known to drink to ex-
cess. In America, the employer is viewed rather as a tradesman
to whom the workpeople dispose of their labour, than as a person
having a hostile interest, llie manu&cturers are always anxious
that the children should be well educated, as they find them so
much the more useful and trustworthy. " I hope the mother
country," says Dr. Ure, '< will not disdain to take a word of advice
from her meritorious daughter, and that the mill owners of Old
England will study to discourage, by the effectual means above
mentioned, the sin of drunkenness, the peculiar opprobrium of our
people both at home and abroad. There are no jeidousies between
the American workmen and their employers, of the nature of those
which appear to prevail between the English workman and his
master."
BELPER.
The rapid improvements, made in almost every branch of the
manu&ctures of England, during the last sixty years, are not more
conspicuous in the increased wealth of the nation at large, than in
the rising eminence of those places which before were hardly
known. The most populous of the present manu£su;turing towns
in Great Britain, were, at the beginning of the last century, either
of little importance or not known at all. Such was Belper, which
now holds a high rank in point of population among the towns in
Derbyshire: it was, prior to 1776, as low in population as it was
backward in civility ; and considered as the insignificant residence
of a few uncivilised nailers. la the year 1801, the population of
Belper amounted to 4,600, and in 1809, to 5,636. This increase
is owing to the extensive cotton mills erected there, belonging to
the Messrs. Strutt; where in 1811, 1,300 persons found employ-
ment. These mills are four in number, the first of which was
erected in 1776 by Jedediah Strutt, and rebuilt in 1810. With
its increase in extent and population, Belper has increased in
civilisation and respectability. Immorality and ignorance, which
were once thought the characteristics of the place, have, in a great
measure, disappeared ; and improved morals and more enlarged
views, supfdy their places. About the centre of the town, is the
29
226 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATEB.
•
mansion of Jedediah Strutt, and a little above the bridge, pleasantly
situated, is Bridge-Hill, the seat of G. B. Strutt. The wear above
the bridge is well worth attention ; and the fine expanse of water
extending for a considerable way off the river, interspersed with
islands covered with young trees, has a pleasing eflfect. A little
to the north of the mills, is a handsome stone bridge of three
arches, erected over the Derwent at the expense of the county.
In 1811, four hundred children were taught at the Sunday-school,
supported by Mr. Strutt ; who, at that*time, adopted several of the
plans of education recommended by Lancaster.*
The principal mill, as seen in the print, is 200 feet long, 30 feet
wide, and six stories high ; and its floors being constructed of
brick arches, and paved with brick, it is considered absolutely in-
destructible by fire, and therefore proof against the havoc of that
dreadfiil element. This mill has three water-wheels attached to
it ; the largest one, which is used in floods only, is remarkable, as
well for its magnitude, as for its singular construction. It is up-
wards of 40 feet long, and 18 feet in diameter. It being impossi-
ble to procure timber sufficiently large to form the axle, or shaft,
of this wheel in the usual mode of structure, it is made circular
and hollow, of a great number of pieces, hooped together like a
cask ; the shaft is between five and six feet in diameter. The
other two, which are used when the water is at a common height,
are composed principally of iron, and are remarkable for their
simplicity, strength, and lightness of appearance. Their diame-
ters are 21 feet 6 inches, and length 15 feet. Each shaft is of cast
iron, and the arms which connect them with the sole, or that part
of the wheel to which the buckles or ladles are attached, are
simply round rods of wrought iron, an inch and a half in diame-
ter. Each wheel has eight of these arms, and they are supported,
in the direction of the shaft or axis, by eight diagonal rods of the
above dimensions.
*" At the period of the discovery of America, 1492, the great mass of the
common people of Europe were little belter than slaves ; of that which we
call liberty, they scarcely knew the name. They had no absolute property
in the land, and they were so wretchedly indigent, as to have little property
of any kind. Their political privileges corresponded with this state of their
property ; they had no elections ; officers from the highest to the lowest
were placed over them. Those who then cultivated the earth, were : First
slaves, these slaves were generally some portion of a conquered nation,
white like ourselves. Second, villeins, who were said to be fixed to the soil,
and were transferred with the land. Third, there were a small number of
freemen who held property absolutely as their own. But such was the
\.
BXTBNSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 227
There do not exist in ' America, in the same degree, those cir-
cumstances of a dense and degraded population which occasion,
in the old nations of Europe, such an infinite difference of know-
ledge and ignorance, of wealth the most exuberant and indigence
the most horrible.* No man in America need be poor if he has
an axe and arms to use it. The wilderness is to him the same
retreat which the world afforded to our first parents. His family,
if he has one, is wealth ; if he is unencumbered with wife or
children, he is the more easily provided for. An immense propor-
tion of the population of the United States consists of agriculturists,
who live upon their own property, which is generally of moderate
extent, and cultivate it by their own labour. Such a situation is
peculiarly favourable to republican habits. The man who feels
himself really independent, — and so must every American who
can use a hoe or an axe, — will please himself with the mere
exertion of his free will, and form a strong contrast to the halloo-
ing, bawling, blustering rabble of a city, where a dram of liquor,
or the money to buy a meal, is sure to purchase the acclamation
wretched condition of the times, and such the violence and outrage to which
men were exposed in those barbarous ages, that this latter class made a for-
mal surrender of this independent property, and became slaves, that they
might enjoy the protection of the lords. The first dawn of liberty arose
from the fact that many of the slave peasants were enabled, by their economy
and wise savings, to purchase their liberty. As their property procured them
liberty, liberty made them profitable labourers to their former masters, whose
revenues were thereby so much augmented, and the value of their lands so
much increased, and so many saw the advantages accruing to themselves
from the liberty of their slaves, that innumerable serfs were every where
enfranchised. It is related by Robertson, that in the progress of time and
of public improvement, charters of manumission were granted. These con-
cessions were — first, that the right of sale of the person should be relinquish-
ed ; second, power was given to convey property by will or deed ; third, the
taxes and services, which before were at the will of the lord, were now
rendered certain and fixed ; fourth, marriage was allowed without the lord's
permission. Little do we think of the condition of our English ancestors,
when we look back to the period long after the discovery of this continent,
and find Q,ueen Elizabeth, in 1574, granting manumissions to certain slaves of
her own. The labouring people were governed and legislated for more like
animals than human beings ; what they should eat, what they should wear,
and what they should earn, being prescribed by law. Even the dress of
merchants and artificers, who were inferior to the lords and landholders, was
provided for by law." — Sedgwick,
* As you walk along our streams you may hear the merry notes of the
bell mingling with the sounds of our water-falls, calling not the lazy, loung-
ing monastic, to yawn over his matins; but the vigorous and active mechanic
to the conduct of the spindle and loom.
228 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
of thousands, whose situation in the scale of society is too low to
permit their thinking of their political right as a thing more valu-
able than to be* bartered against the degree of advantage they may
procure, or of license which they may exercise, by placing it at
the disposal of one candidate or another.*
* Extracts from the Prospectus of the Emporium, a periodical ^ocrk
edited by Judge Cooper, of Pennsylvania^ now President of Columbia
College, in South Carolina,
'^ Our agriculturists want a hame market. Manufactures would supply
it. Agriculture, at a great distance from seaports, languishes for want of
this. Great Britain exhibits an instance of unexampled power and wealth
by means of an agriculture greatly dependent on a system of manofactares-^
and her agriculture, thus situated, is the best in the world, though still
capable of great improvement.
" We are too much dependent upon Great Britain for articles that habit
has converted into necessaries. A state of war demands privations that a
large portion of our citizens reluctantly submit to. Home manufactures
would gpreatly lessen the evil.
^'By means of debts incurred for foreign manufaetares, we are almost
again become colonists — we are too much under the influence, indirectly, of
British merchants and British agents. We are not an independent people.
Manufactures among us would tend to correct this, and give a stronger tose
of nationality at home. I greatly value the intercourse with that country c^
pre-eminent knowledge and energy ; but our dependence upon it is oAen to
great, as to be oppressive to ourselves.
*^ The state of agriculture would improve with the improvement of manu-
factures, by means of the general spirit of energy and exertion, which no
where exists in so high a degree as in a manufacturing country ; and by the
geneial improvement of machinery, and the demand for raw materials.
*' The home trade, consisting in the exchange of agricultural surpluses for
articles of manufacture, produced in our own country, will, for a long time
to come, furnish the safest and the least dangerous, the least expensive and
the least immoral — the most productive and the most patriotic employment
of surplus capital, however raised and accumulated. The safest, because it
requires no navies exclusively for its protection; the least dangerous,
because it furnishes no excitement for the prevailing madness of commercial
wars ; the least expensive, for the same reason that it is the safest and the
least dangerous ; the least immoral, because it furnishes no temptation to
the breach or evasion of the laws ; to the multiplication of oaths and per-
juries; and to the consequent prostration of all religious feeling, and all
social duty ; the most productive, because the capital admits of quicker
return ; because the whole of the capital is permanently invested and
employed at home; because it contributes, directly, immediately, and
wholly, to the internal wealth and resources of the nation ; because the
credits given are more easily watched and more efiectually protected by
our own laws, well known, easily resorted to, and speedily executed, than
if exposed in distant and in foreign countries, controlled by foreign laws,
and foreign customs, and at the mercy of foreign agents ; the most patriotic,
BXTBNSfON OF THB COTTON BUSINESS. 229
The most noticeable peculiarity in Rhode Island scenery, is the
great number of cotton and woollen factories which are seen
peeping from every valley where water power can be employed.
Villages have grdWn up in this way in regions the most sterile
and uninviting, and a large population are there fed, where with-
out wealth, which they may almost be said to create, fewer families
could subsist than the number of thriving and flourishing villages
which now meet the eye on every side. '^ What the moral influ-
ence upon society will be, to have such masses of population
collected together, without schools and without churches to
counteract the tendency to corruption which all promiscuous
assemblages of population have, it cannot be difficult to anticipate."
Such were the reflections of the ''National ^gis," in 1825. But
we are happy to say that, in 1835, the grounds of those fears and
apprehensions are removed; schools and churches have been
introduced, and are producing the most happy effects. For, to
promote the best good of our fellow men, we must aim, not only
to make them industrious and wise in their occupations, but
upright in their conduct and virtuous in their lives. Let the arts
of life be carried to the greatest possible perfection ; multiply the
means of wealth ever so much — still, unless men are moral, vir-
tuous and good, these improvements are lost, and worse than lost
upon them. You may make every farm in our country a garden.
because it binds the persons employed in it, by all the ties of habit and
of interest, to their own country ; while foreign trade tends to demoralise
the affections of those whose property is dispersed in foreign countries,
whose interests are connected with foreign interests, whose capital is but
partially invested at the place of their domicile, and who can remove with
comparative facility from one country to another. The wise man observed
of old, that, ' where the treasure is, there will the heart be also.' And time
has not detracted from the truth of the remark.
'' We have a decided superiority in the raw materials of cotton, hemp, and
flax ; in our alkalies for glass-works ; in the hides and the tanning materials
of the leather manufactory ; and we can easily procure that advantage, so
far at least, as our own consumption requires it, in the woollen manufactory.
Other branches might be enumerated wherein our advantages of internal
resource are undeniable ; but I cannot see why we should neglect or despise
these. Nothing but a stimulus is wanted to induce and enable us to make
a proper use of our domestic riches. But men of skill and men of capital
fear to begin ; lest on the return of peace they should be exposed, in the
weakness and infancy of their undertaking, to contend with the overwhelm-
ing capital and skill of the European powers, particularly of Great Britain.
'^ Thomas Coopbk.
« Carlisle, Feb. 1813."
230 MEMOIR OP SAMUEL SLATER.
and the country around a paradise ; yet if good institutions are
trampled in the dust ; if vice and moral corruption pollute and
curse the soil ; it is not a paradise ; it is not an Eden ; it is a
Aftf.* •
The advancement of this country, in manufacturing industry,
is perhaps unexampled in history. In the year 1805, the total
consumption of cottpn, by the manufactories of the United States,
was a little more than 1000 bales. Now, Rhode Island uses
30,000. In 1805, our woollen factories could not furnish the
army with 6000 blankets. During the last war, capital was taken
from commerce and invested in manufactures. This was the first
impulse. In 1816, a report made to Congress showed that forty
millions of dollars capital were invested in cotton manufactures,
and twelve millions in woollen. In that year we manufactured
90,000 bales of cotton. In 1816, it was estimated that the whole
amount of goods manufactured in the United States, was equal to
fifly or sixty millions of dollars. It is now believed that we manu-
&cture, of all kinds, to the amount of two hundred and fifty
millions in a year, about twenty-five millions of which are ex-
ported, and the rest consumed in the country. The internal or
domestic trade of every country is, perhaps, more permanent and
useful than the foreign. It is not subject to the fluctuations of the
commercial world, which frequently break out and spread desola-
tion around.
The Missouri Advocate states, that copper is found firom
* Ther^ are two sorts of labour, working for profit and working for nothing.
Persons who have nothing to do, generally have hard work to live. A late
distinguished senator said in the parliament of England, *'man is born to
labour, as the sparks fly upwards." This observation is founded on t
thorough knowledge of the destiny from which none can escape. The idle
are always unhappy, nor can mental vigour be preserved without bodily
exercise. Neither he who has attained to inordinate wealth, nor he who
has reached the greatest heights of human intellect, is exempt from the
decree, that every man must " work for his living." If the " gentleman" does
not work to maintain his family, he must to maintain his life ; hence, he
walks, rides, hunts, shoots, and travels, and occupies his limbs as well as
his mind ; hence noblemen amuse themselves at the turning-lathe, and the
workman's bench, or become their own coachmen. Hence kings some-
times play at being workmen, or, what is worse, at the game of war.
Without exercise, the body becomes enfeebled, and the mind loses its ten-
sion. Corporeal inactivity cannot be persisted in, even with the aid of
medicine, without symptoms of an asthenic state. From this deliquium
the patient must be relieved in spite of his perverseness, or he becomes a
maniac or a corpse. Partial remedies render him ^^ a nervous man ;" his
only effectual relief is bodily exercise.
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 231
Ouisconsin and the falls of St. Anthony, to the shores of Lake
Superior, in such abundance and purity, that the Indians make
hatchets and ornaments of it ; and that it is easily worked, into
any form, without any other instrument than the hammer. The
whole region of the upper Mississippi is mineral, abounding in
lead and copper. The lead mines are in the hands of the United
States, but the copper, in 1826, was retained by the Indians.
Mr. Shirreflf, an English farmer, who visited this country with a
vIqw to decide upon allowing a younger brother to emigrate hither,
thus speaks of Lowell : —
^'The females engaged in manufacturing, amount to nearly
6000 ; and as we arrived at Lowell on the afternoon of Saturday,
we had an opportunity of seeing those connected with some of the
largest cotton factories, retiring from labour. All were clean, neat,
and fashionably attired, with reticules hanging on their arms, and
calashes on their heads. They commonly walked arm in arm,
without levity. Their general appearance and deportment was
such, that few British gentlemen, in the middle ranks of life, need
have been ashamed of leading any of them to a tea party. Next
day, being Sunday, we saw the young females belonging to the
Victories going to church, in their best attire, when the favourable
impressions of the preceding evening were not effaced. They
lodge, generally, in boarding houses, and earn 8s. 6d. sterling, per
week, independent of board ; sewing girls earn about 4s. 6d. The
recent introduction of large manufacturing establishments, this
population, and ample reward of labour, account for the apparent
comfort and propriety of the Lowell young women. The situa-
tion of the manufacturing class in Britain is very different ; nur-
tured amidst poverty and vice, they toil in crowded and unwhole-
some factories from infancy, often disregarded by parents and
employers, and attaining maturity ruined in constitution, and
with few of the sympathies of humanity.
" This village may be taken as an instance of the great strides
by which the United States are advancing to greatness, and the
immeasurable water power nature has lavished upon them. The
canal supplies more water than the present machinery requires ;
and after inspecting the surplus in the canal and rivers, I am of
opinion there is water enough to propel nearly one hundred times
the machinery at present employed, and which might employ a
population of above one hundred thousand more. Britain is said
to owe much of her greatness to the supply of coal, with which
she has been blessed ; but however extensive and available it may
be, the water power of the United States will excel it in cheapness
232 MEMOIR OP SAMUEL SLATER.
and magnitude. The price of labour is, and will likely continue,
much cheaper in Britain than in the United States, which seems
the only circumstance that can ultimately give a superiority to
the former.*
Depression of Manufactures in 1815. — ^Antecedent to the period
of the restrictive system, the great mass of manu&ctures consumed
in the United States, was derived from great Britain. During
that period, and the coasequent war, foreigrn goods were attainable
only in insufficient quantities, and at high prices. The inccm-
venience of depending on a foreign supply, being severely felt, led
to the investment of much unemployed capital in manufacturing
establishments. The facility with which water power, sufficienl
for these purposes, was attainable in various sections of the coun-
try, strongly invited to this object. During the war this capital
was very productive ; but at its close, the British manu£Bu:turen,
having large quantities of goods on hand, adapted and originally
destined for the American market, poured them into this coantryi
to an amount far beyond the wants of the people, or their ability
to pay, with a double view of vending their goods, and ruining
the rival establishments of the United States. Many of these
goods, after being warehoused a considerable time, were sold at
auction at less than first cost, and often at little more than to pay
the freight and duties. Improvident people, allured by the.ajqm-
rent cheapness of goods, were induced to make unnecessary
purchases. The goods destined to the American auctions were
* The attempt to introduce females into other emplo]rments, and especiaUy
into the printing office, is very properly reprobated ; and the followiog note
from the manuscript of an operative, is very expressive of a just indignatioo
against it : —
''To woman belongs the service of the domestic temple; there she is
nature's priestess, — to ministet in peace, far from the tnrmoil and pollutios
of busy life, — offering up the incense of pure affection, on the altar of inno-
cence. Wo unto him, or to them, who would degrade the shrine, or stain
its hallowed censer with * strange fire.^ Much of her bland power to bind
up the wounded spirit, proceeds from her happy ignorance of the vicissitudes
of public life, to which the tougher sex is doomed, and, while shielded from
the bitter truth, she hopes the best, and her sanguine faith is often conta-
gious. It is certainly a most curious trait of civilisation that drives woman
from the ease and independence which the most enlightened policy of all
former ages awarded her. Those who are really anxious for the welfare of
females, let their exertions be directed towards procuring for their natural
providers and piotectors a sufficiently just amount of wages as shall serve
to retain, in comfort, the sister, and wife, and daughter of the workingman,
in her proper sphere." — Remarks on an attempt to introduce females into
pritUing offices.
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 233
handsomely finished, but of the cheapest materials and texture.
The operation had, in a great degree, its designed effect ; most of
the considerable numufacturing establishments were obliged to
stop, and many of the proprietors &iled. This state of things
commenced in 1816 ; its effects were more severely felt in the two
succeeding years, and continued until congress, by a judicious
arrangement of the tariff, in some measure relieved the manu&c-
turing interest ; and the people, learning wisdom by experienqe,
relieved their circumstances, by substituting a prudent use of
domestic articles, for an extravagant consumption of foreign. —
PerldfiM^s Historical Sketches.
The history of Fall River, a place which is becoming of so much
importance in the manufacturing world, cannot but be acceptable.
Situated on a rather abrupt elevation of land rising from the north-
east side of Mount Hope bay, distant about eighteen miles from
Newport, and nine from Bristol, R. I., stands the beautiful and
flourishing village of Fall River, so called £rom the river, which,
taking its rise about four miles east, runs through the place,
and after many a fantastic turn, is hurried to the bay over beds
of rocks, where, before the scene was changed by the hand of
cultivation and improvement, it formed several beautiful cascades,
and had a fine and imposing effect. The village is now only
picturesque from the variety of delightful landscape by which it
is surrounded ; the back ground presenting a variety in rural
scenery — where neat farms and fertile fields show themselves
here and there between hill and dale, and rock and wood. The
soil, though for the most part fertile, is in some places exceedingly
rocky, and often in the midst of such places some little verdant
spot shows itself to much advantage.
But Fall River is chiefly inviting as a place of residence, from
the salubrity of the air, and the vicinity of Mount Hope bay,
which spreads before it like a mirror, and extends easterly until
it meets the waters of Taunton river, forming on each side nume-
rous little creeks and coves, which add to the charms of the land-
scape materially ; while on the southwest it takes a bold sweep,
and passing round through Howland's ferry, where it is com-
pressed through the narrow channel of a drawbridge, having the
island of Rhode Island on one hand and the town of Tiverton on
the other, again expands and flows on to meet the ocean. How-
land's ferry is not visible from the village of Fall River, though it
is from the bay, when at the distance of three or four miles.
Vessels do sometimes pass and repass througti the drawbridge at
Howland's ferry to and from Fall River and Taunton ; but the
30
234 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
most usual way of access to the former is through Bristol feny,
two miles south of Bristol port. It requires no great effort of
imagination to go back a few years, and imagine the Indian with
his light canoe sailing about in these waters, or dodging about
among the rocks and trees.
The neighbourhood of Fall River has been the scene of frequent
skirmishes among the Picknets, the tribe of King Philip, and the
Pequods and Narragansetts. Uncas, too, with the last of the
Mohicans, and the best, has set his princely foot upon its strand.
Fall River, which in 1812 contained less than one hundred inha-
bitants, owes its growth and importance principally, indeed almost
wholly, to its manufacturing establishments ; which, though not
splendid in appearance, are very numerous, and employ several
thousand persons, collected from different parts of the country, as
well as many foreigners ; the immense fall of water here being
now nearly covered by establishments of various kinds. There
are more than forty thousand spindles in operation, and it is only
twenty-one years since the erection of the first cotton msuiufactory.
Previous to this the land in this vicinity belonged principally to
the families of Borden, Bowen, and Durfee ; three families from
whom the principal part of the stationary inhabitants sprung.
The land now divided among the different manufacturing esta-
blishments, is principally held in shares, that is, in the neighbour-
hood of the establishments. So flourishing has business been
there, that there is scarce a mechanic, trader, or even labourer,
who has been there for any length of time, who has not acquired
an estate of his own. In 1812, the first cotton manufactory was
erected by a company incorporated by the name of the Fall
River Company. In the same year, another company was incor-
porated called the Troy Manufacturing Company, and another
fectory built. There were, in 1833, thirteen manufactories,
viz. two cotton manufactories of the Troy Company ; Pocasset,
one woollen, do. ; New Pocasset, Massasoit, Olney's mill. Calico
Works, Fall River Company's mills, three in number ; Annawan
iron works and nail manufactory. The calico works alone, which
cover a large area of ground, employ nearly three hundred hands;
its state of improvement is not exceeded by any establishment of
the kind in the country. There are besides a number of machine
shops, &c., which, stuck about on the jutting rocks, many of them
in the very bed of the stream, have a most singular appearance.
The fall originally was through a deep black gulf, with high
rocky sides. Across this gulf most of the manufactories are built.
There is an appearance of active industry and a spirit of enter-
EXTENSION OF TBE COTTON BUSINESS. 236
prise, as well as of cheerfulness and contentment, that at once
strikes a stranger. It is evident, too, from the number of houses
of worship, schools, &rC., that the moral and reUgious education of
the rising generation is not neglected. There are eight houses of
worship, and a number of free-schools here, towards which the
inhabitants themselves voluntarily contribute twenty-five hundred
dollars per annum. The number of inhabitants in 1833, exceeded
five thousand. It is to be supposed, that among the heterogeneous
materials which form the community in this place, there is a great
variety of character, as well as of creeds; occasionally some dif-
ferences of opinion as well as clashing of interests; yet for the
most part crime has been unknown there. It has often been the
boast among the inhabitants that, living as they do, on the borders
of two states, (part, and by far the greater part, is in Troy, Mass.,
the other in Tiverton, R. I.) the laws of either were seldom called
to punish any thing except venial transgressions.
Fall River, too, can boast of its prowess in battle, of its revolu-
tionary characters, in '^ the times that tried men's souls." For
although their humble attempts to resist invasion have not yet
found a place on the pages of history, yet certain it is, the tide
of war has once rolled its threatening waves as far up as to/^ch
the shores of Mount Hope bay. The character for bravery, gene-
rosity, and independence of mind, manifested at that period, seems
to have become a part of their inheritance. Among all the changes
which the increase of population causes, the primitive virtues of
simplicity and hospitality are still eminently conspicuous. Who-
ever goes to reside there seems to adopt readily the manners of
the inhabitants. Even the labouring part of the community in
the manufactories, at well as in other departments, are positively
distinguished by a degree of refinement and courtesy of manners,
which serve to leave the most favourable impressions in relation
to manufacturing villages. I shall always recollect with pleasure
one little incident in one of the weaving rooms of the manufactory,
where the noise was very distracting, arising from a vast number
of looms going at once. The machinery suddenly stopped, and a
strain of music arose simultaneously from every part of the room,
in such perfect concord that I at first thought it a chime of bells.
My conductor smiled when I asked him if it was not, and pointed
to the girls, who each kept their station until they had sung the
tune through.
At the time Newport was in possession of the British, there was
an attempt made to destroy their mills at this place, consisting of
236 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
saw mills, grist mills, and a fulling mill ; which the bravery of
the few inhabitants, men, women, and boys, prevented.
The growth of Fall River, from the period of the revolution to
the year 1812, must have been very slow ; and ever since that
time, until 1^22 : when there was but four stores in the place, of
any description, and not exceeding four hundred inhabitants. The
third manufactory was erected in 1821, and two more the ensuing
year. In 1833, a lage and elegant one was built. There is now
one hundred shops and stores of various descriptions ; but, except-
ing two or three on the Tiverton side of the village, scarcely any
where spirituous liquors are retailed, and not a single distillery in
the place. The roads north and south of the village lead through
a delightful country. The view of the island of Rhode Island on
the south one is beautiful, — while that leading to Taunton is
scarcely less picturesque. On this road lies the little village of
Assonet, where there is considerable commerce carried on. It is
a singular sight to see vessels coming up to the very doors of the
cottages, sheltered and shut in by the little woody point that en-
closes the tiny harbour, — and music to hear the voices and loud
laughter of numerous little ttrchins, who are frequently seen play-
ing on the hull of some old vessel on the grassy strand. Th^se
fairy landscapes on the one hand, are strangely contrasted by the
wildness and sterility of that on the east, which resembles a newly
settled country. The land lying between Fall River and New
Bedford, a distance of sixteen miles, is a perfect desert ; being only
diversified by bogs, rocky pastures, and forests of scrub oak and
wild poplar. — History of Fall River.
The annexed report to the " Society for Establishing Useful
Manufactures in New Jersey," shows the progress and extension
of the cotton business in Paterson, from 1791 to 1827: —
'* Your records show, that soon after the American revolution,
when the United States had just established that form of national
government which provides for commerce and its protection;
when agriculture, the primary interest and pursuit, began to
extend and flourish, and it was foreseen would become redund-
ant and out of proportion to all other branches of industry, a
number of men whose patriotism had been long conspicuous in
public affairs, conceived that the prosperity and happiness of their
country would be essentially promoted by the introduction of those
manufactures kno^vn to be sources of benefit in Europe. It
seemed to them /Aen, as the later history of our coimtry has
proved, that it would be more for the common good, that the useful
arts should share in the growing physical and financial ability of
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 237
the people, and the expense to convert the raw materials, abund-
antly produced among us, might as well be saved to the industry
of our country. It appears, in the preamble of the charter they
were presented with by the legislature of New Jersey, that a con-
tribution of capital was made for this object, to the amount of
more than two hundred thousand dollars. The great falls of the
Passaic were ascertained to have an elevation, above tide, of 104
feet, and were calculated to be capable, by their elevation and the
volume of water, of driving two hundred and forty-seven undeiv
shot water wheels ; and at Little Falls, four miles higher up, thirty-
six feet fall was deemed capable of driving seventy-eight water
wheels ; that this river was navigable for thirty miles above the
falls, with boats drawing five feet, to Chatham, and beyond, with
a few locks, fifty miles. Becoming, from various sources of intel-
ligence, thus satisfied of the superiority of this situation, the asso-
ciated contributors of capital bought the right of the falls, the title
to which was originally derived from the state itself, and were
granted their charter, under the name and style of ' The Society
for the Establishment of Usefiil Manufactures,' 22d November,
1791, vesting them with power over, and possession of, the waters
of the Passaic.
'^ In consequence of the general war in Europe, the neutral
commerce of the United States was soon found to be exceedingly
advantageous ; and it is well known that, for ten or twelve years
succeeding the year 1791, it attracted most of the active capital
of our country into its operations, and had so much efiect upon
our agriculture as to raise the price of provisions.
'^ By this accidental state of things, the society was retarded, but
its purpose was not defeated, nor scarcely suspended. It was well
known that the time could not be remote when every interest
would seek its proper level, — a reflux of capital be expected to
our shores, and the original occasion for such an example as the
society proposed to itself to be, would recur with tenfold reason —
the accumulated wealth of our country act and display itself, not
only in great establishments of manufactories, but in opening the
mines and the avenues of internal commerce and profit. The
society, soon after the purchase of the Passaic, and the grant of
its charter, proceeded to establish the first cotton factory and print-
ing house : this was attended with loss. The society invited and
encouraged skill, by leasing privileges, and aiding manu&cturers
with capital! This system was well calculated to draw numbers
to share in the use of this great water power. Experienced ^11
owners have been induced hither, bringing wealth even fi'om
238 - MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
England. Numerous artisans have sought and found employment
coming from abroad, and from the adjoining states. The wages
of the supernumerary hands of the surrounding counties, together
with the sale of their surplus provisions, have enriched Bergen,
Essex, and Morris.
" In July 1827, there were in Paterson, New Jersey, 6,236
inhabitants, 1,046 heads of fisimilies, 7 houses of public worship,
17 schools, a philosophical society, — ( it is evident that these esta-
blishments do collect around them, in due proportion, every art
and profession) ; — 16 cotton factories, in which 24,000 spindles
operate ; 2 factories of canvass, 1,644 spindles, employing 1,453
persons, whose wages are $ 224,123 a year ; extensive machine
shops, and iron works, flax, 620,000 lbs. annually, 6000 bales of
cotton, 1^630,000 lbs. cotton yarn spun annually, 430,000 lbs. of
linen yarn, cotton and linen duck made, annually, 630,000 yards,
cotton cloth, 3,354,600 yards, yam exported ^ 796,000 yards, and
new factories then building.
** This is but the beginning of what Paterson must be, if not
disturbed in its well planned career of usefulness.
^^ Perhaps the time has nearly arrived, contemplated by the legis-
lature, when it may be expedient and necessary to organise the
corporate government as provided for by the act. For in every
populous place, where a great amount of property is concentrated
in business, a preventive police, a united local magistracy, a prompt
administration of justice, the preservation of health, by the clean-
liness of markets and streets, and the establishment of a hospital,
where the accidentally injured may have the best medical aid
and care, and the sick be better taken care of than in the midst
of a busy multitude, — the preservation of morals, too, by affording
an opportunity to every one to save, and not expend their earnings,
beyond the sum necessary to subsistence, laying up the surplus
in a savings bank, at interest, open to receive and secure any sum,
however small, placed to the owners credit, as often as it sbouM
be brought ; thus accumulating a sum competent to an establish-
ment in business;, or in a home, and tlius avoiding temptations tu
dis$i(vition and extravagance, were among the objects of the legis-
lature.
•• The advantages of doing business in a well regulated town,
are ixnisiderations which interest alU and promote harmony, order,
uuioiu and good will : and all know that, thus, accessions of num-
bers will lead to the increased value of property. F'oreigners are
4 to hold leal estate in Paterson."
iproY^etiuent of roads and canals leading towards Massa-
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 239
chusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, from the surrounding
districts of greater extent and production, are manifestly of the
utmost importance, as they facilitate and cheapen the introduc-
tion of raw materials, grain, and other productions of the soil of
less populous or more fertile districts. This was a subject of great
interest with Mr. Slater, who was a principal agent in promoting
the famous road from Pawtucket to Providence, also what is called
the Gore turnpike, to Webster, and the Worcester and Norwich
turnpike. He was always in favour of the project of the Worces-
ter and Norwich railroad, now so happily commenced, which
will pass through Webster.
Indeed Mr. Slater is said to have owned forty thousand dollars,
in turnpike road stock, little of which was available ; but he con-
sidered the importance of good roads as a necessary appendage to
the manufacturing interest. When he commenced business,
Rhode Island and Massachusetts were very defective in roads and
canals.*
* The momentoas fact is satisfactorily established, that the American
manufacturers' demand has greatly surpassed, in 1812, all the abilities of the
planters, farmers, land-holders, and miners, to supply those fire descriptions
of raw materials. It is certain, that neither in commerce, nor in na?igation,
nor in the fisheries, nor even in agriculture itself, do we find a truth so vast
and stupendous, as that which is exhibited to our eyes in the case of labour-
saving machinery. Taking the advantage, in favour of the cotton carding and
spinning, at the ascertained rate of two hundred to one above manual labour,
we are astonished to find that the industry of four millions of persons,
operating with water and steam machinery, would be able lo execute as
much work as eight hundred millions of persons could perform in the old
mode of manual industry. We do not expect to accomplish miracles, nor
to engross manufactures. But the United States of America, sincerely
regarding and thoroughly respecting the rights and interests of the rest of
mankind, are able and authorised to participate with all the sister nations of
the world, in this wonderful object of human industry, to which they have
actually contributed so many valuable inventions.
Of all tbe discoveries and inventions yet accomplished, the machinery
which saves labour, incidental to manufactures in the greatest degree, is
that of Whitney, for ginning cotton wool.
The richest object of commercial enterprise, (continues Tench Coxe) for
the merchants of the United States is the trade of those countries which do
not manufacture. Of this, the trade of our American brethren, from Texas
and Mexico to the Straits of Magellan, is a very interesting instance. We
can import their raw materials and export our manufactures to an im-
mense amount, with substantial benefit. Their rich products will not often
be received in the ports of Europe in our vessels foreign to them. Their
copper, crude sugar, peculiar cotton and woods, their various dyeing mate-
rials, drags and medicines, their wool, hides, and tallow, and their gold and
240 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
The following is a specimen of Mr. Slater's business letters,
they are full of information and close calculations ; in short, his
opinion did much to regulate rules of interest, commissions, &c^
with the agents of manufactured articles.
Messr$, — , , ^ Co.
Gentlemen, — Your letter under date of 7th ult. by way of Oxford, is at
hand, coveting your last quarter's sales, discounts, commissions, and a check
on New York for $1500, which is at your credit. I was much mortified to see
your account come on in the old style, notwithstanding so much has been said
at times on the subject. You have charged bad debts back, but no deductions
for commissions and interest thereon. As respects these bad debts, and
others previous, the law is considered very plain on that point, unless proper
diligence is exercised when the debt is due, the commission merchant has
no right to charge the debt back. However, this is a subject which the
manufacturers are taking into serious consideration. You have also charged
four per cent, on case and bale goods ; amount of which, in your last quaitei's
sales, $5,268 75 difference between that and what others generally charge,
and what I can have a single barrel of flour or a quintal of salt fish aold for,
amounts to $79 04. Then comes a more serious item, which is, no interest
account. How shall we get along with for time past. Two individual
houses, the year past, have credited me nearly $1000 interest, whoae
balances at the end of the last year was only about fifty per cent, more than
the balance from you. My sons, and I too, think it necessary to go fully
into an interest account. Many of my good friends, who dispose of my
goods, keep no interest account; but when they send in their quarterly
account of sales, rhey stipulate, when due, by average, which I consider is
the best mode. I have to request of you to give me your mind on the fore-
going subjects, as well as on what terms you will agree to receive and dispose
of my goods in future. The cotton business in now in such a deplorable
state, that no manufacturer can live, if he gives about seven per cent, in
commission and interest. Respectfully your obedient servant,
Samuel Blateb.
Mr. Slater's second marriage,* was with the widow of Robert
Parkinson, who had entrusted his affairs with Mr. S. and who had
silver, will be exchanged for cabinet wares, plate and jewelry, pottery, iron
manufactures, mill-work, cooper's utensils, machinery, types, gunpowder,
arms, ships, and other vessels, boats, &c. As our manufactures progress,
the trade with that new und interesting country, and with St. Domingo,
and all the countries similarly circumstanced, cannot fail to increase.
* This is to certify whom it may concern, that on Friday, the 21st day of
November, Anno Domini 1817, Samuel Slater and Esther Parkinson were
lawfully joined in holy matrimony, and pronounced man and wife together,
according to the rites of the protestant episcopal church, as witness my
hand, Joseph Pilmore,
Bector of St. PauTa Church in Philadelphia.
BXTBK8ION OF THE COTTON BV8IKB88. 241
been an acquaintance many years in the Slater fiunily. In this
way Mrs. Parkinson had known the former wife of Mr. Slater^
and had very much esteemed her as a friend. Mr. Slater's letter
on that occasion, a copy of which was found among his papers,
is written with so much propriety, that there can be no objection
to its publication.
Mn. Robert ParkinBon^ widoWy Philadelphia.
NoHTn Providence, R. I. Sep. 23d, 1817.
Dear madam, — As the wise disposer of all events has seen fit in his wis-
dom to place you and me in a single state— notwithstanding, I presume
Bone of his decrees have gone forth which compels either of us to remain in
a state of widowhood. Therefore, under these and other circumstances, I
now take the liberty to address you on a momentous subject. I have been
inclined for some time past to change my situation in life, and have at
times named you to my brother and sister for a partner, who have invariably
recommended you as suitable, and have fully acquiesced with my ideas on
the subject. Now if you are under no obligation to any one, and on weigh-
ing the subject fully, you should think that yon can spend the remainder of
your days with me, I hope you will not feel reluctant, in writing me soon to
that effect. You need not be abashed, in any degree, to express your mind
on this business, for I trust years have taught me to receive your reply
favourably, if my understanding has not I have six sons to comfort you with
the oldest is about fifteen years, he has been at Oxford about a year, (not
Oxford in Great Britain), the youngest is in his sixth year, I believe they are
all compos mentis, and they are as active as any six boys, although they are
mine. Cousin Mary is now down from Ludlow on a visit ; she has a noble
corpulent son about six months old. I should have divulged my intentions to
yon months past had not my brother given me to understand that he expected
you daily on this way on a visit. Probably you may consider me rather
blunt in this business, hope you will attribute that to the country that gave
me birth. I consider myself a plain candid Englishman, and hope and
trust, you will be candid enough to write me a short answer, at least, whe-
ther it be in the affirmative or negative ; and should it be in the negative, I
stand ready and willing to render you all the advice and assistance in my
power relative to settling your worldly matters.
With due respect, as a friend and countryman, I am, dear madam, your
well wisher, Samuel Slateb.
N.B. — Hope you are a freemason as respects keeping secrets.
The death of Mr. Slater's eldest son,* at a time when he
became useful in his business and a pleasing companion to his
* The following register from the town clerk, will show the number and
ages of Mr. Slater's children : —
Samuel Slater and Hannah Wilkinson, married Oct 2d, A. D. 1791.
William Slater, son of Samuel Slater and Hannah his wife, bom AagOiC
31st, A. D. 1796.
31
242 MEMOIR OF SAMUEIr 8LATEK.
fiither, was a severe trial ; I find thd%Ilowing letter written to
him during his sickness : —
Samuel Slater^ Jr.
North Providence, Not, 18tb, 1820.
Dear Son, — Herewith you will receive, per John Sims, your shirts, stock-
ings, &c., which I thought you would be in want of, before I should probably
again be at Oxford, therefore I send the bearer up on purpose with them,
and in order to ascertain the state of your health ; which you will get Mr.
Tyson to inform me of. Probably it will be some weeks before we again
have sleighing, therefore, if you should wish to return home before we banre
sleighing again, I will have the carriage sent up any hour yon may see it
to say. Now, as your life and health depend entirely on your strict atten-
tion to every thing appertaining thereto, do let me entreat yoa to be very
particular in all your food, &c., and see that you keep yourself free from the
inclemency of the weather, and above all things, keep your feet warm and
dry. I had a letter from John this week ; he says if that vessel which was
coming to Providence after nails, &c., does not come, he will send your
trunk by mail. He sent your grammar by Captain Cooke, whom A. and Bi
and I sent to Cheshire to look at Mr. Granger's farm. I saw Mr. Johnson of
Providence respecting soldering those dye tubs ; who says, the upright parts
cannot be soldered without being turned partly down, observing that there
was no way to keep the solder in its place, after melting it with the solder-
ing iron, until it became cold. Shall write Mr. Tyson on the subject. I have
been in Providence this afternoon to attend the funeral of Mr. WheelockV
little daxighter, Eliza Slater Wheelock ; fi^om all accounts she was almost a
perfect being ; the heavy loss is almost insurmountable to her parents. My
dear son, do let me entreat you to be very careful of your health, and spare
Elizabeth Slater, daughter of Samuel Slater and Hannah, bom November
15th, A. D. 1798.
Mary Slater, daughter of Samuel and Hannah, born Sept. 28th, A. D. 1801.
Samuel Slater, son of Samuel and Hannah, born Sept. 28th, A. D. 1802.
George Basset Slater, son of Samuel and Hannah, born February 12tby
A. D. 1804.
John Slater, son of Samuel and Hannah, born May 23d, A. D. 1805.
Horatio Nelson Slater, son of Samuel and Hannah, born March 5th,
A. D. 1808.
William Slater, son of Samuel and Hannah, born October the 15th,
A. D. 1809.
A true extract, as appears of record, &c.
Witness y H. Angell, T. Clerk.
November bth^ A, D. 1814.
Thomas Graham Slater, son of Samuel and Hannah Slater, was bora
Sept. 19th, 1812.
Mrs. Slater died a short time after her last child, and left her husband,
overwhelmed in business which was daily increasing, with a family of
small children. Perhaps a mother's loss was never more severely felt.
EXTEK8ION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 243
no pains to get restored to your former health, and belieye me yoar affec-
tionate father, Samuel Slates.
N.B. I forgot the title of the book which you requested me to get when
last at Oxford. Do send me word per J. Sims what it is, and I will get it
without delay and forward it.
Gwrgt Benson Strutt, E$q,
North Providence, June 4th, 1821.
Dear Sir, — At the special request of G. Sulliyan Esq. counsellor, and
many of my friends in this section of the country, I now take the liberty to
address you principally in their behalf. The object is merely this: A certain
cotton manufacturing company in this country, who have been in the cotton
business a few years only, still, they have pretended to be the inventors of
almost every thing, and have taken out patents accordingly ; but as it is so
well known, that, before they commenced business, one of their brightest
jNUtners was in England, for some time, (cloaked as a merchant.) obtain-
ing information and workmen, which induces the public here to believe,
that they claim that which belongs to the public, &c. The greatest question
is concerning the double speeder, now much used in this country, which is
said to be on a much improved plan to any thing in Great Britain. Mr.
Sullivan will forward this letter to one of his friends in England, who will
wait on you in order to ask you some questions, but not with a view of ob-
taining any information, as respects any new improvements with you. If
the questions asked appear pertinent you will have the goodness to answer
them accordingly. We have a very recent new plan of machinery, just set
in operation, only yet nicknamed the treble speeder, for roving and winding,
which, from all appearance, far exceeds the double speeder ; as it will not
cost more than one third per spindle, will be abundantly more durable, and
perform double the work. The front roller must make at least 400 revolu-
tions per minute, or the machine will not perform the work to best advan-
lage. I contemplate having some of the kind in operation shortly, and
should the plan far exceed the double speeder, on a full expeiiment, I will
send you a draught of it with pleasure. I am told the inventor, a country
boy about twenty years of age, is now spinnipg on the same principle, as
fine as one hundred skeins to the pound, and running the front roller about
sa fast as for roving.
I am, dear sir, your most obedient servant,
Samuel Slater.
Webster, Jan. 31, 1835.
Most honoured friend, Moses Brown — Your esteemed favour under date
4)f the 26th ult., was duly received, which I should have answered without
delay, had not I been deprived of holding my pen, owing to a lame hand
and wrist. However, I immediately sent word to my sou John, instructing
him to see you on the subject of your letter, and to render every assistance
in my behalf. It is very unpleasant to me that the lodge and chapter should
attempt to violate their sacred contract, made with the owners of Union
Block. I was not over friendly to putting on the additional story, but my
S44 MRMOIE OP SAMUEL 8LATB1I.
two partners (who were both masons) stated the masons would take a lease
of it for forty or fifYy years, and pledge thirty shares which they owned in
the Manufacturer's hank as security for payment of the rent, hut some years
after, I learned the shares had not been pledged, for some reason or other.
Some of the candid masons have frequently observed to roe, that it was
the intent and meaning to pledge that stock, and although it had not been
done, still it ought to be. I have no surplus cash to spend in the law, but
still I, for one, consider a part of my duty to my fellow beings to aid and
assist in trying to make people to be honest and upright in all their contracts.
Hoping the many years which have passed over your honourable head, still
permit yon to enjoy your usual state of health and activity, I remain with
every respect, your obedient servant,
Samitel Slatel
Mr. Slater's business, up to the year 1 829, had progressed, and
was established on a permanent basis. And such was the snn^
and punctual manner in which he managed his concerns, that he
did not owe, in all his purchases and debts, one thousand dollars ;
while he had fifty thousand dollars in mortgages on real estate.
No one could justly accuse him of want of prudence and foresight
in his loans or responsibilities. It, however, appeared, when the
village of Pawtucket was shaken to its foundation, that Mr. Slater^
endorsements were very heavy and extensive ; and during the panie
which followed, he was unable to take up all his endorsed paper,
without great sacrifice, yet he knew that, with some accommoda-
tion, and with perfect safety, he could meet all demands and save
much property firom destruction. It was with these views that he
applied to William Almy, one of his first partners in his business,
and who was then a partner in Pawtucket and in Smithfield, but
his application did not receive that prompt and cheerful attention
which Mr. Slater had reason to expect ; but was considered as a
refusal.
This circumstance increased the alarm and shook credit, in
Rhode Island, to i^ centre* All confidence was lost, when Mr,
Slater said that, without some accommodation, to gain time, to
meet his endorsed paper, he should stop his mills, till he could
turn himself round. There was something strange, passing
strange, that William Almy should not have fully entered into Mr.
Slater's views ; having known his circumstances, and being con-
vinced, as he must have been, of his immense property. A meet-
ing of wealthy men was held in Providence, at which meeting Mr.
Slater gave a schedule of his property, when Cyrus Butler, Brown
& Ives, Moses Brown, and others, expressed a wish for an arrange-
ment, that Mr. Slater should go on with his business. He finally
sold out his third in the ^* Old MUP^ in Pawtucket, and his fourth
EXTBH8I0N OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 246
of the Smithfield property ; and Wm. Almy became the purchaser
of those places.
Mr. Slater was concerned in the new steam mill, in Providence,
and it was found necessary to take the whole of that into his
hands ; so that he weathered the storm and settled his affairs in a
much shorter time than was expected. Not without a consider-
able loss of property, and what was of more consequence, a loss of
confidence in men of business in general. It was very evident
that his mind and feelings were very essentially affected, and, with
his poor state of health, he never fully recovered his tone of
assurance.
Some of his letters, about this time, discover a sensibiUty that
was never observable before ; for he was remarkably free of all
remarks on those with whom he was connected in business. This
was, however, a rebuff that he little expected, and a kind of trial
that he was unaccustomed to ; he never before knew what it was
to be unable to meet every demand, and could generally anticipate
such calls. He said to me : '^ I felt the more, because I had never
been used to it." He felt his dignity, as a business man, hurt,
when his proposition did not meet with prompt and cheerful atten-
tion and acquiescence.
About this time I find, on some of his papers, the following
passages copied. '' As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatches
them not, so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave
them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool." —
Jer. XVII. 11.
"Bread of deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth
shall be filled with gravel."
Me»$r8.
North Providekce, Feb. 3, 1829.
Gentlemen, — S. Slater & Sons hare come to a deteraiination to place that
ignoble establishment in Dudley, called Slater & Howard's woollen factory,
in a state of respectability. Whether or not it was got up in iniquity I cannot
say ; but I fear some things, during the life of it, are mysterious. It is the
united wish of S. Slater & Sons to sink into oblivion the past inroads that
have been made, one way or another, on that establishment. They are very
anxious to place the business, in future, on a fair mutual ground, so as to
pay about six thousand dollars a year for extra stocky raising the wind, bad
debts, and too liberal commissions. Perhaps you may think that I am rather
severe in my remarks ; but I think I can say, as the Earl of Essex said,
when dueen Elizabeth boxed his ears. A noble lord told him to submit.
His reply was : You are only a looker on, hut I feel it. However, waiving
the allegory, I would just observe to you that, in the course of this month, I
contemplate remitting to you from twelve to sixteen thousand dollars, in
246 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL 8LATEB.
bills on the south, and bank bills on Slater db Sons' account, proriding the
negotiations can l>e made on'as favourable terms in your city (where neither
Jew nor Quaker has an abiding place,) as can be done elsewhere. I should
like your reply on the subject, both as it respects bills of exchange, and
ProTidexice and current bank bills. Yours, &c.
Samuel Slateb.
Messr$.
N. Providemce, Jan. 7th, 1829.
Gentlemen, — In my last, under date of the 31st ult., I wrote you that I
had drawn on you^ for ten thousand dollars, on four months, in favour of the
Steam Cotton Manufacturing Company, in order to meet a demand nearly
due in Philadelphia, since which, have altered a five thousand draft into three,
two of $1500 each, and one of $2000, all payable at the same time.
It is rather a pinching time here for money ; though many of the money
borrowers say times are becoming more easy. Since the failure of Mr.
Kurd, money-jobbera and anti-tariff folks have propounded almost every
one, who has seen, or at least touched of late a cotton or woollen factory,
that he must go down stream, and amongst them, some whose chins are
barely above water, are (friendly) afraid that I have a very heavy load on
my back, &c. It is true, I am on two neighboura' paper, but am partially
secure, and hope in a day or two, to be fully secured against an eventual
loss, providing Mount Etna should not extend its lava much beyond the
usual limits. Last week, my sons George, John, and Nelson, bought out
my old friend Edward Howard, in the woollen business, which relieves my
mind considerably. The business in future will be transacted by myself
and sons; and as it respects the Amoskeage and Steam Cotton Manufacture
ing Company, including the woollen factory and all my private concerns,
(which I consider very trivial,) I think I can boldly say, after the whole com*
pany debts are paid, (all of which I have to meet,) there will be left
from 800,000 to 1,000,000 of dollars to all concerned. I barely mention
these circumstances to in some measure rebut any flying reports that may
reach your city, and of couree will not retard your acceptance of my paper
so long as you have my funds in your hands to make you perfectly secure :
I shall probably spend (at least) several weeks here, therefore, if you have
not already forwarded your last quarter's sale and account current to Oxford,
you will send it to Pawtucket. In great haste, your obedient servant,
Samuel Slater.
N.B. It is a general time of health in my family. Hope you and all
connections are well. S. S.
To the same.
North Providence, June 15th, 1829.
Gentlemen, — Since I wrote you under date of the 12th inst., there has
been a dreadful storm in and about Pawtucket. I believe on Friday last,
Samuel B. Harris made an assignment of his property without even consult-
ing his endorsers, A. I. & W. On Saturday A. dc. I. W. made an assignment
of their property, and as a great amount of paper was lying over, both of
their own, and that which they had endorsed for W. Harris dc. S. B. Harris,
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 247
as soon as the alarm was given in Providence, the Providence people, with
their lawyers and sheriffs, were busy enough here until midnight on Satorday
night, but the conjecture is, they were too late. It will not be necessary for
you to make known the name of your informant of the above. Yours, Scc^
S. Slater.
Th the same,
July 29th, 1S29.
Grentlemen,— On the 22d inst., I drew on you in favour of B. & C. Dyer
& Co. at four months, for $1000 to take up my son Nelson's draft on A. dbl.
Wilkinson, which was by them dishonoured. Nelson received the draft in
part payment of his legacy. Since I wrote you last, D. W. has gone down
the falls. His failure is a serious one, and it affects my mind and body
seriously, and purse too for the present, but hope eventually to meet with
but little loss.'*'
Nelson started the Kennedy factory on my account last Monday, I hope
shortly to have some goods for you. To-day Jonathan Congdon &, Sons,
Charles Had win, and others, made assignments ; so we slide along. I should
write you oftener would my health and spirits permit. Yours, dec.
Samuel Slateb.
N.B. Kennedy's debts amount to $115,000, which greatly surprised me
and every other person it is about double what I expected.
I exposed myself very much and got cold in my left arm, so that, now, I
may almost say, that I am armless. As soon as the humble-bee makes his
appearance, I hope my infirmities will leave me.
I hope the great scarcity of money at this time, 1828, will have some effect
on those dealers in negroes, who are so opposed to the woollen and other
bills before congress.
As the great-gun of the brokers has made an assignment, and fail^
ed, it creates a fear in me that they are not so safe to place funds witb
as many of the state banks. Notwithstanding I own forty shares inr
the United States Bank, Slater, Wardwell & Co, who have made use of my
name as a stockholder, have in no one solitary instance been able to get one
cent of the best paper discounted at that bank. I wish the mother bank
would take a peep into the business.
1829. — You may- rely on one thing, that, if you do, or are obliged to sell cot-
ton goods much lower, you will bankrupt a number of poor cotton spinners. I
am not very partial to this mode of drawing, but money is extremely scarce
in Providence and its vicinity, that if people do not resort to some stratagem
or other, (who can,) nothing but a general bankruptcy would ensue. I have
the unpleasant news to give you, that J. Green dt Son and John Gardner
made an assignment last night, (June 18th 1829,) and their mills are motion-
less to-day.
* This was the most trying time in Mr. Slater's life, he was unable to
sustain those who relied on him for assistance any longer ; he found himself
responsible for $300,000, when the pressure of money was so great as to
shake the confidence of Uie capitalists of New England, and the community
in general.
248 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
June 11th, 1829.— My health has been at a very low ebb, I have suffered
almost every thiog from a ?ioleiit distress at my stomach, which produced ia-
digestion, and nearly a total loss of appetite; and in addition to other afflic-
tions, about three weeks past, I was violently attacked in my old emaciated
knee, with the rheumatism, to that degree, which deprived me of motion. I
am now rather creeping up hill, and make out with the assistance of my
crutches to hobble about my room two or three times a day.
Connoisseurs say, that the steam factoiy is now making the best goods
in the country.
Th the same.
N. PROvmENCE, August 3, 1829.
Gentlemen, — Your two letters under dates of the 27th and 28th ult are
at hand. In regard to my endorsements for D. Wilkinson, they are heavy
without doubt, but I am secured for the whole eventually. The steam mill
is in debt to a large amount, but as $70,000 have been paid in, and as the
whole establishment is holden for her debts, I conceive, taking all things
into view, that the depreciation will not exceed the amount paid in. As I
have to look up entire new friends to aid me in my unexpected liabilities,
makes my task more arduous.
There is coming due at different periods, at the Merchant's bank. Provi-
dence, on^. W. and J. K.'s account, about $62,000, which some of the direc-
tors say I can have my own time to pay. Brown & Ives and C. Butler sent
me out word, that they wished to have an interview with me ; they say I
must be carried through, and I doubt not they will do it,
My brother is down here, and he and Mr. Sayles made out a sketch of
my real and personal property, valued in their judgment, at what they con-
sider it worth now, at $690,000, leaving out the Dudley woollen establish-
ment. As respects your observations relative to your fears not being
unreasonable, I make every allowance, after taking into view your informant,
whom I for years have thought was a near-ox, but now I have reason to
believe the offside is more congenial to his feelings. It is contemplated to
make some arrangements to-morrow, so as to put my afiairs in a proper train.
When I see any of you face to face, I will give you a history of hMman or
vihuman generosity. Two of my consignees have already offered to loan
me 310,000 each, over and above the amount of invoices, whom I have not
been acquainted with forty years. The failures round here are pretty frequent,
the names, no doubt, you have already heard. I shall endeavour to advise
you frequently of what is going on here. Respectfully your obedient servant,
Samuel Slater.
Samuel Slater, Esq, Oxford, Massachusetts.
New York, 10th mo. 21, 1831.
We take the liberty of writing to thee on a subject which has been dis-
cussed by our mutual friend John B. Toulmin and ourselves. In the course
of ever)' year we receive a great many letters of recommendation with
emigrants from Europe, who come out here to seek employment, as labourers,
manufacturers, servants, d:c. and we arc frequently at a loss to procure
situations for them. This city is such a general resort for emigrants, there
EXTENSION OP THE COTTON BUSINESS. 249
are always more applicants than places to flU, and eonseqaently mnch misery
is endured by those who are without employment, many of whom return to
their native country in despair. J. B. Toulmin has told us of thy kindness
in assisting poor people to find employment, and he recommended us to
address thee on the subject. We shall feel much obliged to thee if thou
wilt permit us occasionally to recommend poor emigrants to thy notice, and
also if thou wilt let us know whenever thou or any of thy friends are in
want of men, women or children, who have testimonials with them. In
this way we may both be the means of serving our country people who cross
the Atlantic to obtain a livelihood.
We remain respectfully thy assured friends, A. Bell dt Co.
Samuel Slater^ Esq.
Niw York, 31st Oct. 1S31.
Dear sir, — I was at Providence a few weeks ago, and much regretted to
hear of the sickness of your son, H. Nelson, and of your own indisposition.
I had not, time to vbit you at Oxford, but it will afibrd me much satisfaction
to attend to your orders at Mobile, to which place I return on the 1st
November, per ship " Splendid." The crop of cotton, state of Alabama, is
represented to be much better this year than last, and prices will probably
open at six to eight and a half cents. Such cottons as will spin No. 16 and
18, 1 think will be bought at seven and a half to eight cents, perhaps lower.
Freights are also likely to be lower this year than last. I now beg to
call your particular attention to the annexed letter from my most respectable
friends, A. Bell & Co. I think aid may be rendered to respectable emigrants,
that may be useful to manufacturers in want of hands, as well as to them.
I am fully aware of your disposition to be useful, and feel assured you will
excuse the liberty now taken.
I am, sir, very truly, your obedient servant, J. B. Todlmin.
The above letters afford me an opport9nity of introducing the
usefulness and benevolence of Mr. Slater, in a point of view in
which his character has not been duly appreciated.
From the first establishment of the old mill hi Pawtucket, it was
the resort of every English mechanic who reached our shores;
whether by the way of Nova Scotia or New York, you would
meet them steering for Rhode Island, with enquiries for Slater's
Mills. It is easy to conceive that this continual drain on his
attention not only taxed his purse but his patience. But in Samuel
Slater they always found a friend who would find them immediate
employment if possible, or direction to the most probable places,
where they would fulfil their wishes. He knew well how to
advise, they looked up to him as a father, and had undoubted con-
fidence in his directions. Many thousands applied to him in this
way ; he sent none empty away, and it is not easy to conceive of
the amount of money which he presented, as well as the amount
of joy afforded, to strangers. This was his fort of charity, it was
32
260 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
thrown in his way, and he exercised his benevolence for upwards
of forty years in a retired unostentatious manner. He treated
none with contempt or reproach, but assured them all that with
sobriety and industry they would be able to live in plenty and
peace. He warned the idle and intemperate of their danger,
reminding such that no country could sustain vice from misery.
This was the sphere of Mr. Slater's charities, in which situation
few were ever situated to do so much good, and few would have
availed themselves of the opportunity to the extent that he did.
Messrs, George B. ^ John Slater.
North Providence, Feb. 8th, 1832.
Dear sons, — I wrote John on the 28th ult. that I thought it would be
advisable for one of you to come down and see your sick brother, hoping it
might in some degree revive his drooping spirits, since which time have
not decidedly heard from either of you, only circuitously, that you were in
Boston. I hope your brother Nelson is rather more comfortable. He is
placed in a disagreeable situation, his nurse is sick, and his uncle has a
large family, which must very much interfere with their comfort, &c. He
has pretty much made up his mind to move out here in the course of a few
days, providing it can be done without endangering his existence. Probably
the presence of one of you might make his journey out here rather more
agreeable. As the Rev. J. Fletcher once wrote to his friend who had
omittted writing for some time, he asks, "Are you alive, paralytic, gouty,
slothful, or too busy to write a line to your friend ?" Your affectionate
father, Samuel Slater.
Mrs. Esther Slater, Pawtucket, R. I.
WiLKiNSONviLLE, April 9th, 1832.
Dear wife, — I arrived at Webster the day I left Pawtucket, at about five
o'clock, pretty comfortable, though somewhat fatigued. I found all my sons
and grandsons in good health. Yesterday, son John, wife and son, and I,
too, left Webster for this place, where part of us tended church fore and after
noon, although very cold. They have not completed repairing the breach
in the flume but expect to go to work in two or three days. When I arrived
at Webster, daughter Sarah having no help but Harriet, she sent for Fanny,
who came over that night. I had a little conversation with her on the subject
of going to Pawtucket. She said she would not live with Miss R. ; other-
wise should be glad to live with us at Pawtucket. Do write me how Nelson
gets along, as well as the other invalids. I do not expect to return any
earlier, at least, than the last of this week. In haste, yours, &c.
Samuel Slater.
N.B. — Send me all the news you can.
Mrs. Samuel Slater^ Pawtucket, R. I.
Webster, February 25th, 1833.
Dear wife,— I left Wilkinsonville the same day which you left there sick.
Son Nelson informed me that your health was m|easureably restored. In-
I
EXTBf78ION OP THE COTTON BUSINESS. 261
deed I was, in some degree, satisfied that the salubrious air of Pawtucket
would soon reanimate you. I have been tolerably well since I arrived here,
until a few days past. On Thursday last I traveled round on foot to view
some house lots, in the snow broth, and got my feet at least a little damp, if
not perfectly wet. The night following was very cold and froze very hard.
The next morning after breakfast, not in the afternoon, I recommenced my
pursuits, and as I was so much older and more clumsy than I thought I
really was, that while I was going up a steep frozen hill, and being not sure-
footed, I happened, accidentally, to fall prostrate on the ice, to the annoy-
ance of my hip and shoulder. I am now some better, but am severely
afflicted with a cold, probably partly from sleeping alone. Last Wednesday
morning, about 5 o'clock, a little grand-daughter came to town : she and her
mother (as the old woman's sayings are,) are as well as can be expected.
Son John arrived here last Saturday night, and, no doubt, before this time,
has kissed the baby, dbc. dec.
I shall endeavour to leave here as soon as the sleighing will permit, so as
to get clear of the old maids (both white and black,) who are daily soliciting
me for a chance to go to Pawtucket ; also a black, or coloured, man wants to
live with us. This looks a little like what I have often told you, that there
are people to be got for money.
A certain hook which has been baited with shiners, for some time past,
will not induce a certain mackerel to bite, or at least swallow the bait.
Further particulars when I see you. Respectfully yours, dbc.
Samuel Slater.
N. B. How does your old maid do ? If Wm. Bliss should want a few
dollars, towards cutting woud, you will let him have some.
Mrs. Esther Slater, Pawtucket, R, /. Favoured by Miss M, Thimer,
Webster, September 28th, 1833.
Dear wife, — The bearer. Miss Mary Turner, would have gone down to
Pawtucket, some days past, had I not deferred it on account of seeing my
son Thomas, who promised, on Tuesday last, since which time I have not
seen and scarcely heard from him, excepting by way of a teamster or tin
pedlar, verbally. Mrs. Turner expects to recruit you up in the course of a
week or ten days, and then bring you up into* the county of Worcester,
where you can see, among other curiosities, a noble stone dam, built after
the architectural skill of Sir C. Wren. It is a very heavy job, and you may
rely on it, I pay good attention to it. I generally eat my breakfast in season,
so that I get over there by sunrise, and remain, either sitting or standing
on rocks or stones, until sunset ; and then during the night I sleep from two
to six hours. I enjoy tolerable good health, and my limbs are daily gaining
their wonted activity, dbc. You will endeavour to find some employment
for my new driver, Silvester Davy, during his ittay at Pawtucket. If you
should come up shortly, I wish you to send up a little good West India,
which I want for a medicine, 1 should like to hear how you and all your
invalids get along. I would say many things, but having about forty eye
servants under pay, on out door jobs, all whom I find it necessary to watch
as close as a cat does a mouse, therefore I must close.
With due respect, yours, dbc. d^e. Samuel Slater.
N. B. It is a general time of health here.
262 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
To the Aasessora of the Tovm of StUton, Mass,
Webster, August 23d, 1834.
Geotlemen, — Eyer since I have owned the estate at Wilkinson ville I haTe
felt injured at the high tax that has been assessed on that property. 1 hare
understood that after scaling down the real value, from one quarter to one
third, you have then estimated the property at fifty-six thousand dollars,
until last year, when you reduced the tax some. Now, in order to give you
some light respecting the actual value of it, I will take forty-seven thousand
dollars for all the real estate and machinery I own in the town of Sutton ;
and if you require it, I stand ready to make oath of it. If any one of yoa
will find a purchaser at the above price, I will cheerfully make him a present
of fifty dollars. Yours, &c.
Samuel Slatul
Mathew Carey, Esq., of Philadelphia, in 1827 visited the Tillage
of Lowell, and desirous of laying before the public a correct
statement of its progress and present condition, proposed a num-
ber of queries to Mr. Boott, from whom he received the follow-
ing answer, and communicated it to the public through the
medium of the United States Gazette.
LowBLL, October 25, 1897.
Dear sir, — I believe the following briof statement embraces all the objects
specified in your letter of the 22d. If, however, I have, in my haste, omitted
any thing, I will cheerfully supply it. With regard to Mr. Hurd's works, I
am very imperfectly informed, and should prefer you to draw your informa-
tion from some other source.
There are now in full operation, at Lowell,* six cotton mills, four stories
* '* About fiAeen years ago the now territory of Lowell, being aboat four
square miles, and bearing upon it fifteen thousand inhabitants, was owned
by a few honest farmers, who obtained subsistence for themselves and fami-
lies by the cultivation of this comparatively barren spot, and the fiah they
caught in the Merrimac and Concord rivers. It comprised the northeasterly
part of Chelmsford, and bounded easterly by the Concord river, which sepa-
rated it from Tewksbury, and northerly by the Merrimac that divided it
from Dracut ; and from the fact of its situation at the confluence of these
rivers, was called Chelmsford Neck, and originally by the Indians, Wo-
maset.
" Thus for centuries it lay with the vast resources, which we now see
developed, slumbering in its bosom, unsuspected and unknown. But the
spirit of enterprise and improvement came, and its touch, like that of the
magic wand, has turned this seeming wilderness, not simply into a fruitful
field, but into a busy, enterprising, and prosperous city.
^' In 18 f6. Kirk Boott, Esq. a wealthy merchant of Boston, in the habit of
a hunter, explored this place. He discovered its resources, and immediately,
in company with several other rich merchants of that city, purchased the
land and water privileges. They were incorporated by the name of the
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 253
high, 155 feet by 44^ containing 25,000 spindles, and about 150 looms ; in
which were made,- the last year, 5,042,408 yards of cloth, weighing 1,045,386
pounds, from 1,176,082 pounds of raw cotton. The numbers of yam, 22, 26,
30, and 40. Two mills for twilled and four for plain goods. Three other
mills are covered in ; the first will be started in January, and the other two
in July and January following. There are now employed 1200 persons in
' Proprietors of the Locks and Canals on Merrimae river,' and commenced
operations by digging a canal from the Pawtucket Falls, easterly, one mile
and a half, where it emptied into the Concord river. This canal is sixty
feet wide, and carries in depth eight feet of water. This is their grand
canal ; lateral branches are cut, which carry the water to the several manu-
facturing mills, and then discharge into the Merrimae or Concord rivers.
They then erected a large brick machine shop, and commenced building
machinery. This company sell out the privileges to manufacturing compa-
nies, dig the canal, erect the mills and build the machinery, and put the
whole into operation ; — they do it cheaper than any body else would do it ;
and these are the only teims on which they will sell the privileges. The
company has a capital of $600,000, and employs, constantly, about 200
workmen in their machine shop. A part of their lands they have sold out
to individuals at an enormous advance on the original price. Land for which
they paid $20 or 930 per acre, they have sold for one dollar per square foot.
They have still a considerable portion of it on hand and unsold. Kirk Boott,
Esq. is their agent.
" Lowell contains, as we have before remarked, about 15,000 inhabitants,
and was incorporated in 1824 into a town distinct from Chelmsford, and re-
ceived its name from Francis C. Lowell, Esq. who early introduced manu-
fiietures into this country. There are now about twenty-five factories in
operation, and there yet remain unoccupied privileges for nearly as many
more. When these shall be taken up, as they, in all probability, will, they
will probably afford means of subsistence to another 15,000 inhabitants,
making in the whole 30,000.
'^ A new canal is now being dug, which will furnish sites foi about a
dozen mills, of the size already built. A company has recently been incor-
porated by the name of ' Boott Cotton Mills,' which have purchased four of
these sites, and upon them are immediately to erect four large brick mills.
The railroad from this place to Boston is now complete. It will be, we ap-
prehend, of mutual advantage to both places, and especially to Lowell. It
is said to be more permanently built than any other in the country. There
are to be two tracks. It will greatly facilitate the immense transportation
between these places. A steamboat, owned by Messrs. Bradley & Simpson,
has commenced running, between Lowell and Nashua, a distance of fourteen
miles. It is to co-operate with the railroad. A spacious market house, 166
feet long, is to be built this season, — $ 40,000 have been appropriated for the
purpose. Our town is deficient in public buildings. A town house, school
houses, and poor house, are all, we believe. Our streets are not paved, but
will be ere long. And on the whole, notwithstanding its present imperfec-
tions and deficiencies, which time, we trust, will remedy, it yet presents, at
we believe, much to interest the curious traveller." — LoweU Journal,
254 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
the mills; Dine tenths of whom are females, 20 of whom are from 12 to 14
years of age. Adjoining the mills of the Merrimack MaDufacturiog Com-
pany, are their bleach and print shops, covering more ground, but equal in
capacity to two mills; something over a hundred are here employed, about
one fifth females, and one fifth boys. None are taken under 12. Appren-
tices are taken at 14 to 16, until 21 ; receiving for the first year, including
board, $125, and $25 in addition, each succeeding year. Except in the
print works, there are ho foreigners, and there exceed not one quarter part.
Daily wages would perhaps average 50 cents, the minimum being 37^, and
the maximum $2 00. At present about 2,500,000 yards are printed, the
residue are sold bleached. The average value of the prints is about 18
cents, of the bleached goods 12 to 13 cents. The foundation of the first
mill was laid in 1822, and the first return of cloth, November 1823. Be-
longing to the mills and print works, and in their immediate vicinity, are
130 tenements, about 24 by 36 feet, which rent from f 60 to $100 per annum.
The machine shop is of the same dimensions as the mills, and gives
employment to about 1,800 machinists; average wages about ninety cents:
but as a large portion of the work is by contract, and done by the apprentices,
many of them earn from four to six dollars per day. There are 20 tenements
attached to the shops ; the rent of each of which is about $90 per annum.
The cast iron is furnished from Gen. Heach's furnace, about four miles
above : consumption averages a ton daily.
The company to whom the machine shop belongs, have a large tract of
land and an immense water power, and are prepared to furnish machinery
of all descriptions at short notice, and erect the necessary buildings. They
have lately contracted to erect two mills, 155 by 44, near the same, and
furnish the machinery capable of making 3,000,000 of yards of cloth, yard
wide, of No. 14 yarn, per annum, — to build thirty three-story brick tene-
ments, agent's house, and out buildings, — to furnish eight acres of land, and
ample water power, and to put the same in operation for about $300,000.
Besides those steadily employed in the mills, about 150 mechanics, such
as masons, carpenters, &c., find constant work. The amount of capital
actually invested is $2,400,000, viz:
Merrimack Manufacturing Company, - - - $ 1,200,000
Proprietors of Land and Canals, - - - . . 600,000
Hamilton Manufacturing Company, .... 600,000
With respect to the appropriation of land, I will mention a fact. 1 pur-
chased, in 1822, nine tenths, undivided, of a farm of 110 acres, for $1,800.
The owner of the other one tenth had agreed to convey it for $200, but
dying, suddenly, insolvent, it was sold by order of the court, and I gave, for
seven and a half tenths of his one tenth, upwards of $3,000. All his debts
being satisfied the remainder was sold, a year afterwards, for the benefit of
minor children, for nearly $5,000.
Land favourably situated is worth fifteen cents a foot, and there are a few
spots that would command fifty. In 1822, the whole population of that part
of Chelmsford which now constitutes Lowell, did not, exclusive of Mr.
Kurd's mill, exceed 100 ; it is now probably 5,000.
The solitary storekeeper of 1822, is now surrounded by numerous rivals ;
and there are few luxuries, and no necessaries, that shaip competition among
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 256
the dealers does not enable the consamer to purchase as cheap in Lowell
as in Boston.
Lowell is situated 25 miles northwest of Boston, on the Merrimack river,
and is divided from Tewksbary by the Concord, which here falls into the
Merrimack. Middlesex canal empties into the Merrimack, a mile above
Lowell, and furnishes a cheap conveyance for heavy articles. At present
no manufactured goods are conveyed by this channel to Boston, there being
no suitable boats. And indeed, if there were, unless the tolls were consi-
derably lower, there would be little saving. Teaming is done low, and the
goods carried to any point. The canal terminating in Charles's River,
trucking would be necessary, and the expense would thus very nearly equal
teaming.
The consiunption of foreign articles, in Lowell, snch as madder, sumac,
indigo, dbc, gives employment to far more tons of shipping than would be
required to bring the manufactured goods from abroad ; and at the same time
fbmishes to our own coasters an immense increase of freight, by its steady
demand for the products of the other states of the Union, such as quercitron
bark, flour, starch, copperas, lime, &c. Were this subject actually examined
it would be found to exceed the belief of even those most favourable to the
American system.
There is a branch of manufactures rapidly increasing, (and in which
there is still great room for improvement,) that owes much of its progress to
the establishment of print works. 1 allude to chemical works ; many articles
are imported from abroad that can be made full as well at home, and which
I have no doubt soon will be. Trusting that the present duties will not be
abated for some years, we shall go on building two mills a year ; and while
we hope to reap a reasonable return, I am sure we are benefiting our coun-
try, in at least an equal degree. Yours, truly.
Kirk Boott.
Extract of a letter, dated Lowell, April 20, 1835.
Gentlemen : — As you have considered the brief sketch which I gave of the
business of Fall River, worthy of a place in your columns, the annexed
account of Lowell, Mass., which has been obtained at some pains and ex-
pense, I think cannot be less so.
The total amount of capital employed in the incorporated companies
of this place is $6,650,000. They are at present nine in number. The first
is the
Locks and Canals Co. — Capital 9600,000, for supplying water power to
the various manufacturing establishments. The company have an extensive
machine shop, for the manufacture of cotton and woollen machinery, rail-
road cars, engines, dec. They employ 200 men, at good wages.
The Merrimack Co. — Capital $1,500,000, — have an extensive print works,
and five cotton mills. They run 34,432 spindles, 1,253 looms, give employ-
ment to 1321 females, and 437 males, and make 172,000 yards'per week.
The Hamilton Co.— Capital $900,000, have a large printing establishment
and three cotton mills. They run about 19,000 spindles, 600 looms — employ
about 800 females and 200 males ; and make 78,000 yards of prints and
drillings per week.
266 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
The AppletoD Co. — Capital $500,000, mo two mills, between 10 and
11,000 spiodles, 350 looms — employ 475 females, 70 males, and make 80,000
yards of No. 14 sheetings and shirtings per week.
The Lowell Co.— Capital $500,000, manufacture cotton, carpets, rugs,
negro cloths, &c., of a very superior quality. They run 4,500 or 5,000 spin-
dles in their cotton mills — 140 cotton and 68 carpet looms — employ 330
females, 150 males, and manufacture in the aggregate about 43,000 yards
per week.
The Suflfolk Co. — Capital $450,000 — run two mills in the manufacture of
No. 14 drillings, with 10,240 spindles, 350 looms, give employment to 460
females, 70 males, and makes 90,000 yards per week.
The Tremont Co.— Capital $500,000,— run two mills, 11,000 spindles,
400 looms, employs 450 females and 80 males, and makes 120,000 yards of
No. 14 sheetings and shirtings per week.
The Lawrence Co. — Capital $1,200,000, went into operation since either
of the above. They run at present four cotton mills, for the manufacture of
sheetings and shirtings. No. 14 to 30, 37 to 41 inch wide ; another large mill
and a bleaching establishment is soon to be in operation.
The Middlesex Co. — Capital $500,000, is a very fine establishment ; the
superior character of their goods is too well established to require notice
here. They manufacture broadcloths and cassimeres, in which they con-
sume 470,000 lbs. of wool and 1,500,000 teasels annually. They run two
mills, 3120 spindles, 98 looms — give employment to 240 females, and 145
males — making about 6000 yards of cloth per week. Id a few weeks this
company will manufacture 500 yards of satinet per day, in addition to their
present business. — They will then work up 2000 lbs. of wool per day !
The above establishments consume yearly 11,239 tons anthracite coal;
4750 cords of wood, and 50,549 gallons of oil. The total amount of cloth
made is 39,170,000 yards per annum, which requires in the manufacture about
12,256,400 pounds of cotton. In the bleacheries &c. they use 310,000 lbs. of
starch, 380 barrels of Hour, and 500,000 bushels of coal per annum.
The average sum of money paid to the persons in these establishments,
is $89,000 per month.
Besides the above, there are in this place, a flannel factory ; the extensive
powder mills belonging to O. M. Whipple, card and whip factory, glass
works, furnace, dec. employing from 300 to 400 hands.
I believe it is decided on to commence shortly the erection of four new
mills {not thirteen^ as has been published) on a canal now cutting for the
purpose. There will still be room and water in the place for Jive more, but
I have not learned that it will be likely to be occupied soon. Belvidere is
now a part of Lowell, by an act of the legislature : taken together, they pre-
sent the most thriving and business-like appearance ; and will rank in popu-
lation with Newark, in New Jersey, or indeed, with any inland town in the
United States.
North Providence was incorporated 1767. It is now dis-
tinguished for its manufactures, particularly those of cotton,
which form an important interest. There are ten cotton mills,
one of which is the first that was built in America, and in Paw-
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 257
tucket, S. Slater erected the first water-frame spinning machinery.
The extent of this business having concentrated a large capital,
and an immense aggregate of industry, has, within the last thirty
years, given rise to a large and flourishing village. The village
of Pawtucket is situated in the north-east section of the town, four
miles north-east of Providence, on the border of the Seekonk
river ; its site being principally the declivity of a hill, and it is
highly romantic and picturesque. The river here alBfords numerous
natural sites for manu&cturing establishments, mills and hydraulic
works of almost every description ; which are occupied to a great
extent. The rapid march of manufacturing and mechanical in-
dustry, which the short annals of this place disclose, has few
examples in our country, and has produced one of the most con-
siderable and flourishing manufacturing places in the United
States, and the village is built upon both sides of it, being partly
in Rhode Island and partly in Massachusetts. That part of the
village which is in Rhode Island, is principally built oa four streets ;
and comprises eighty-three dwelling-houses, and twelve mercantile
stores. There are six shops engaged in the manufacturing of
machinery, having the advantage of water-po^er ; and various
other mechanical establishments, afibrding extensive employment
and supporting a dense population. Upon the Massachusetts side
of the river, there is a village of nearly equal size and con-
sequence, for its manufacturing and other interests. Besides the
cotton business, there are in the town two furnaces for casting, one
sUtting mill, two anchor shops, two screw manufactories, three
grain mills, one clothier's works, <fec. fourteen stores, three places
of worship, two academies, and eight schools.
Here the first Sunday-school was taught in New England.
Pawtucket had advanced with uninterrupted prosperity; in con-
sequence of the superior road to Providence, it was viewed as a
suburb of the city, and the intercourse was a continual stream of
carriages, and conveyances of cotton, returning with cloth and
other manufactured goods.
Iron works, machinery, nail manufactory, flour mills, as well as
the cotton manufacture, were carried on in the first style ; till such
a demand for houses, tenements, &c. obliged the inhabitants to
build in a rapid manner, so that its appearance as a place of busi-
ness surpass^ any other of its size and dimensions ; all its water
was fully occupied. This was the cradle of the cotton business,
and the consequence of Slater's spinning frame.
Previous to 1829, Pawtucket presented a village of steady and
increasing prosperity ; every man, woman, and child, found full
33
25S MKMOia OF SAXUEI. SLATER.
employment at the highest rate of wages* Those who knew the
place in 1790,* were astonished at the rapidity with which boild-
in^s of erery description arose. And though in the vicinity of
Providence, every article of commerce was kept for sale in el^^ant
shops and stores. The cotton mills never ceased to operate their
thoosands ot* spindles which had been erected, and produced a
quantity o( cloth almost incredible to those unacquainted with the
power and speed ot the water trame and power loom, of the lateat
improvemenL Here, machinery was manutactured for other parts
♦ la Beaeiiicc-''s iustcnr, IS13L is the fijUowiiijf nacce : — ~ The minnfictnr-
ing of cuttua oa Arkwri^^t? pbm was besoa in Pawtacket, in 1790^ hf
Samoel Sinter, Es<|. ^oi Kn^amf, There are aow in this Tillage, and
Bcnr« alnK»c 7000 spimiies in ap«nidcn« and wichin a mile and m qnner of
ic^ ittcludins^ bc(ii sides of the nrvr. aie buildin;pi erected. ca(«ble of cootun-
in^ about I;1lH.H) mure. In 15I0« acTruniin:^ uj an account cikea bf John K.
Pitman of PtuTidnnce. in the state jf Rhode Island, onlv. were thiftf-aine
tacturies*. in which orer 3UjJ0l> spindles were nnnin^. and the same fattta i ci
were capable of coatainin^ about as mamr more. The aomber of sptaiks
in this state only is«. ;a ISlJw probabiy aot :iir oom 50L00O. In IS 16^ the
^ndeman abore menaoned ascertained., uiat wiuun thiitr miles of Pkovi-
dence. wmca includes a considecabie semrory in Massachosecb. ami a small
portion of Coaaecucur. dieie were %Teacy-^H:L racuines^ capabLe of caatua-
inac LIL'XH) spindles^ The aumoer ji spindles now in actnal opcratiaa
within this circumierence are >aid x» be 1:^JjXV, The amcnnt of iram
each week is aot ir dom I!i}.'JiH} pounds^ Jr 5.jiW.>Hi ^ rear. This
of the rtTer JMaware. cae aumber Jt cotam Scores ji iiififrenc
botlt and buddma^. are estimated ar iv^ aunured. We may add to tht
account of piaees of wuisaip ji Rhode Lsand. zhac diere are many mw
commodious school hous-es.. ji :ae aei^bcurhcou :l 'Jie actucea^ hoxlt If
ineir <jwaers ju purpose i-r pubiic wjrsaip. is ti-II is iehoci&.
" In I^'l*, serenteea .-jcijn axJIs were ji jperacion w^in :he Qawn of
Pttyridence and its ricuuiY. 'r-jruo:! Ikiit^ spindles^ and asin^ 64I&JM
pounds jf ^otnjo. wijch yteided }j.UHX) pounus ji' rani. JLhovt VM
looms were innpicyed ji wirar-ji^. A: :aat rjne ^eren Atduiunalmil
enciine Ji Jie TxtaiCY jf *iie jjwx *?Qe was ji :pencon ji East
wica w-ia i'"e iaadred ^cia-i.-rs* Tie -ictas aujoiacnired were hi"f-ft*%->
ja». sfr.pes lad :aecs3* r'-2-:"2J-:=< si.r*ia:j: ua .-Jua.erTunes. Ther ate
supenor x» .mpv»red ^:c*i5 .i* "a-f smie s 'J^i. Tier^ tit is *hea a wooHeii
manniacn?rr :n Wir-rci ua ui-'caer ic 7' .rxncuca. AxTit H\'XH} bsB
were Jiea aiade laaua-Iv. vjiM >? ficii, ■■viusi-"* -i >it lacsw A aumber
if juner -niils is*! fsLj;)i.>»ie«i. L.:if.'a uo x-w .-.cia ire :naiie extensively.
xs weu. IS Tim. -ari^ :a'>-:*a e. lad u.e ;vMrs.r iioj i.ac'-uits ji" .njo. At
Vrrra rr»j«"deaee. a ."**'?. :utfr^ T^fr- ci-^.v'.e*i .i ;.ie 7i T'.ucket. three
anc'iLT *ji.^es> jne s^:-a^ ji.Il. rr-: axacxjes / r -jiu::^ tj.1>» :ae aonui^
anil. :iie Jil iliH. oi-e ^aud'zi.lliv .-ne jt'sc ji..:. ,0^- .'•.:r.a Jiaauiactury,
me nodiers w:rt?. ind ■Il^T^e :u.'.iu:x •"■ = '-* ..le^' 1.1 c- 3«" water. Their
m l^.:! was amen Jicreasri. *
EXTBN8I0N OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 259
of the country, and the very best mechanics from Europe found
ready employment. There was a time when wheat was brought
from the west to the flour mills. These, together with nail facto-
ries and other iron works, caused Pawtucket to be a place of busi-
ness. The road from Pawtucket to Providence was equal to any
in the world, and was the admiration of travellers ; it connected
North Providence with the city, and the intercourse was incessant
Churches and schools were created in sufficient numbers to edu-
cate the youth, and accommodate the whole of the inhabitants in
their different modes of worship.
The cotton manufactories of Smithfield, R. I. (1819) are import-
ant and extensive. There are nine factories, all of which contain
more than 11,000 spindles. About one half of these belong to one
establishment, owned by Almy, Brown and Slaters. This mill is
situated upon the aforesaid branch of the Pawtucket river, about
one mile and a half from its junction, being an excellent site for
hydraulic works. At this place, there is a large and flourishing
village called Slatersville, comprising from six to eight hundred
inhabitants. This village is of recent date, having grown up with
the manufacturing business, which may be considered as the
parent of it. It is impossible to contemplate such a village as this,
without the most pleasing sensations and reflections. What a seat
of wealth, a focus of activity, and a nursery of industry ! What a
display of mechanical ingenuity, and what a developement of the
importance and influence of the useful arts ! What a combination
and variety of operations, what diversity of employment, and what
a number of distinct and curious processes are comprised in the
manu&cture of those fabrics requisite to supply the wants which
the refinements of society occasion ! Who can look upon such
manu&cturing villages as this, without regarding them as the
germs of the future Manchesters of America ? In addition to the
cotton fiictories which have been noticed, there is another esta-
blishment, containing 8000 spindles, which is supposed to be
within the bounds of this town, owned by Butler, Wheaton, & Co.
of Providence.
Smithfield is well supplied with schools, there being twenty
regular ones, which are provided with suitable houses, and are
maintained through the year, and several private schools ; three
incorporated academies; four social libraries; and four places of
worship. There is a remarkable fall of water upon the Pawtucket
river, called Woonsocket Falls, which is a curiosity. The fall is
about twenty feet ; it is not perpendicular, but over a precipice of
rocks for some distance. The fall of the water upon these rocks^
960 MEMOIR OP SAMUEL SLATER.
through a snccession of ages, has occasioned nnmerous excava-
tions, all of which are smooth and circular, and some of th^n
yery large, being sufficient to contain several hogsheads.
Chepachet, (Gloucester, R. I.) Nov. 1831.
Dear sir, — Tliis village is sixteen miles north west of Profidence, and
contains about six hundred inhabitants, a church, a school house, and a £ie
engine ; it is on a branch of the Blackstone. Here are three cotton factories,
two of them belong to H. B. Lymon d& Co., who run 1452 spindles, 41
looms, employ 60 hands, consume 125 bales of New Orleans cotton of 400
pounds each, or 50,000 lbs. a year, and make 270,000 yards of No. 30 printing
goods ; the other one belongs to Arnold & Wood, who run 1000 spindles, 23
looms, employ about 20 hands, and work up SOOlbs. a week, or 40,0001bs. a
year — they make 3000 yards a week, or 150,000 yards a year, of shirting.
About eight miles from this settlement, I struck upon a small stream,
called the WoonsockeL There is no stream that I have yet seen, for
its size, that sustains so many manufacturing establishments as this little
river does. There are on its banks twenty-five mills of various kinds,
giving support and employment to about thirteen hundred persons. On this
stream the first power looms in Rhode Island were put into operation. It is
indeed a little river, but it is more valuable to the country from the eflScieit
industry that it sustains, than if its waters flowed over a bed of auriferous
lands.
On this stream there are« also, two reservoirs, belonging to the several
mill proprietors, who are united into a company for the purpose, under an
act of incorporation — the first ever constructed under the authority of this
state for use of mills. The reservoirs contain 200 acres, with an average
depth of eight feet, and to be drawn off in seasons of drought. My leisure
did not admit of my visiting the mills on this stream : I therefore commenced
at the Oeorgia Manufacturing Mills. Their main building is of atooe^ four
stories high, and 180 feet long ; they run 3700 spindles, 104 looms, employ
150 hands, and work up 30001b6. of cotton a week, or 156,0001bs. a year.
They manufacture printing goods, and turn out 13,500 yards a week, or
675,000 in a year. Samuel Nightingale, Esq., is the agent at Providence,
and Israel Saunders at the factories.
Half a mile below, is another large establishment, belonging to Philip
Allen, Esq. There is a stone building 125 feet long, with several rmmifica*
tions of brick and wood, all painted white, which gives it an aspect of neat-
ness and beauty : 4300 spindles and 100 looms are run, giving employment
to 130 operatives. Here are made only fine goods, from No. 45 to 50.
H. Holden, agent.
Another half a mile below this, Richard Anthony Jb Son have a cotton
mill of 768 spindles, 22 looms, giving employment to 30 hands ; they work
up 80 bales of cotton, and make 2200 yards of sheetings a week, or 111,000
in a year. A short distance from here, the Centre Manufacturing Company
have a stone mill of 2475 spindles, 60 looms, and employ 75 hands. They
make sheetings. They use 25001bs. of cotton a week, or 125,000lbs. in a
year, and turn out 7500 yards a week, or 375,000 a year. James Anthony
ia the agent of both these eatabliahments.
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 961
Something short of a mile from the last mill, yoo come to Zachariah
Allen, Esq.'s woollen manufactory. It is of stone, 60 feet by 40, four stories
high, with outjboiidings for dyeing, d^c. There are 600 spindles, 91 broad-
cloth looms, which giye employment to 60 hands. He works up 50,0001bs.
of wool, and makes 65 yards a day, or 22,500 yards a year, of broadcloth,
Talued at from three to four dollars a yard. John Wait, agent.
Mr. Allen's mill is about four miles from Providence. As you proceed
down the stream you come to the Lyman Manufacturing Company's esta-
blishment. They have two mills, and run 2200 spindles, 60 looms, and
employ 75 hands. They make 11,000 yards a week, or 550,000 yards a year
of printing goods. Three quarters of a mile below, Manton & Keiiey run
800 spindles, 26 looms — employ about 30 hands, and make 5,500 yards a
week of printing goods, equal to 275,000 yards in a year. The Marino mills
are three miles from Providence, and belong to Franklin & Waterman.
They run 1656 spindles, 78 looms, and employ 80 hands : they make 7000
yards a week, or 350,000 a year. Two miles from Providence, in the village
of Johnston, Ephraim Talbot and others, have 1500 spindles, 40 looms, and
employ 65 hands. They make 5,500 yards a week of seven-eighih sheetings,
which is equal to 275,000 yards in a year. Half a mile below, R. Water-
man has two mills — one for the making of oil, the other for brown paper.
The last establishment on the Woonsocket, and to me the most inte-
resting, is Salmon Townsend &, Co.'s manufactory of hat bodies. Mr.
Joseph Grant is the company and the inventor of machinery. He is a
native of Rhode Island, and has been possessed of his patent for ten years.
They work up 2001bs. of wool a day, and make in the same time 1000 hat
bodies, or 300,000 in a year. I should like to give you a description of the
machinery, but it requires more technicalites than I am possessed of to do it
justice — beside, although simple in itself, it should be seen in operation to
form a just estimate of the genius that invented it, and of the great value it
is to the country.
WOONSOCKET FALLS.
The following article is from the pen of a correspondent of the
New York Transcript, under date, " Smithfield, R. I., April 12."
The writer ought to have said Woonsocket Falls may be denomi-
nated the " capital of Smithfield and Cumberland." The Black-
stone river is the dividing line between the towns, at this place,
and the principal part of the village lies in Cumberland. The
writer says —
This is a delightful town. It is the '^ bordershire" of the state, and joins
the county of Worcester, one of the richest, most healthful, and enterprising
sections of country to be found on the face of the globe. — The town of
Smithfield, for many years had devoted itself exclusively to agricultural
pursuits, but of late has become the very focus of " American industry."
Tha Blackstone river and canal runs through it, and the almost endless
variety of scenery with which it abounds, gives it many advantages over the
ordinary inland towns of New England. It largely participates in the in-
262 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
dustiy of the day, and probably operates a greater number of spindles than
any town or village this side of the Potomac.
The village of Woonsocket, which may be denominated the "capital of
Smithfield," is at the fall of the Blackstone river, and drives a very heavy
as well as a profitable business. I am informed that upwards of fifty thou-
sand spindles are operated at this place, to say nothing of an immense
quantity of other machinery. The village partakes of all the variety of
pastoral beauty, and its clifi*s and waterfalls, and bubbling rivulets, are pre-
eminently calculated to give inspiration to the poet.
The mill sites at Woonsocket are very valuable ; it is said they could
not be purchased for half a million of dollars, and yet the whole village was
sold twenty years ago for twenty thousand dollars. The price given for it
at that time was considered exorbitant ; and its former proprietor, James
Arnold, Esq., has, I believe, made some legal attempts to get the estates
back again. In all this he has been unsuccessful ; and the consequence has
been, tedious and vexatious litigation, without the attainment of a single
object.
The village and most of its " dependencies" belong to capitalists of Pro-
vidence, and in their operations they give employment to some hundreds if
not thousands. Although I am not an advocate of the " factory system,''
and know that it is full of abuses, I must confess that the appearance of the
operatives of Woonsocket goes in no small degree to repel and repudiate the
objections that have been so often and forcibly urged against manufacturing
establishments. The whole body of spinners have the appearance of com-
fort and domestic happiness, and if they do not enjoy these rich and desira-
ble blessings, I am deceived in my calculations.
South Oxford, Slaterville, Nov. 1831.
Dear sir, — The town of Douglas is about an equal distance from Uxbridge
and this place, being about six miles from each. The source of the Mumford
river, which I have heretofore named to yon, is within four miles of Douglas,
and is from Manchoug, Wallace, and Badluck Ponds. On this stream and
in the east part of the town, the Douglas Manufacturing Company have
two mills — one of stone, and both five stories high. They have 4,000
spindles, 119 looms, and employ 200 hands. They work up 275,000lbs. of
cotton into 1,000,000 of yards of printing goods. They have, also, a small
woollen concern for making bockings; but it is to be relinquished, as it does
not answer their expectations — Samuel Lovett, agent. Douglas contains
2,000 inhabitants, and three places of public worship.
Slaterville embraces a part of Dudley, as well as of this town, and an
effort is to be made, I understand, to have it set ofi* as a separate and inde-
pendent town. Here resides Samuel Slater, Esq. the patriarch of manufac-
tures in this country. It is only known to a few that the world is indebted
to this gentleman for the discovery of cotton thread. In 1794, while spin-
ning a quantity of Sea Island cotton, the evenness and beauty of the yarn
attracted the attention of Mrs. Slater. The question arose, if this is doubled
and twisted, why will it not make good sewing thread ? The experiment
was made, and in order to be fully satisfied of the result, a sheet was made
with one half of linen thread and the other half with the cotton. It was
EXTEmiON OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 263
immediately put into use, and the first thread that gave way was the linen !
From this period, he commenced the manufacture of thread, and it soon
spread into England, France, and other European countries, where it is
generally supposed to be of English origin.
Mr. Slater is also the author of Sunday schools in this country, the good
effects of which will be more durable than monuments of marble. He is
now in his 64th year. His benevolence and philanthropy have been co-ex-
tensive with his means ; and few have done more to bring young and enter-
prising men into business than Samuel Slater. He has, probably, now a
larger amount employed in manufactures than any single individual in the
United States. The firm here is Samuel Slater & Sons.
They have seven mills — two of stone, three of brick, and two of wood.
Five of these derive their power from French river ; the other two are in the
centre of the village, and obtain their power from Slater's lake ; the Indian
of which is Chorgoggaggoggmanchogga. It is a large pond more than
four miles long, and is a never failing source of supply. They use 6,000
spindles, and 90 looms, employ 180 hands, and work up 1,000 bales of cotton,
which produces 15,000 yards a week, beside large quantities of satinet
warps, and sewing thread. They manufacture, also, broad cloths, cassi-
meres, and satinets. In this branch of their business, they use 600lbs. of
wool a day, or ]80,000lbs. a year.
GENERAL JACKSON's VISIT TO PAWTUCKET.
The present chief magistrate of the Union, in company with the
vice president, waited on Mr. Slater, at his house, to thank him,
and congratulate him, as the representative of this great republic,
as a friend and benefactor of the country, by introducing among
them valuable machinery, before unknown, which has changed
the whole policy of the nation. In particular, it has promoted the
growth of cotton at the south, and changed the whole face of New
England, and thereby made the solitary places literally glad. It
has raised amidst rocks and barren land the most beautiful villages,
teaming with joy and gladness. Forming a numerous population,
not ignorant and vicious, not ragged and oppressed, but paid, fed,
and dressed, with the best the country affords ; not sunken in
profligacy and dissipation, but raised in intelligence, and morals,
as well as religious feeling, beyond the other parts of the States.
When the president witnessed these scenes of honest industry, of
happiness and plenty, of order and decorum, examples of sobriety
and morals — he expressed the highest satisfaction. When he was
told, that the man who introduced the foundation of this prosperity
resided in the village, but was confined to his house by a rheumatic
disorder, the consequence of his early exposure in operating his
first machinery. President Jackson, with his suite, repaired to the
house to pay his respects to the man who had thus benefited our
264 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
common country. With the affability and complaisance so peculiar
to General Jackson, he addressed Mr. Slater as the father of the
American manufactures, as the man who had erected the first
valuable machinery, and who had spun yarn to make the first
cotton-cloth in America ; and who had, by his superintendence
and direction, as well as by intense personal labour, erected the
first cotton-mill in Rhode Island ; which was first in the land of
the pilgrims. (General Jackson, who had been informed of these
particulars, entered into familiar conversation on the subject. *' I
understand," said the president, '^ you taught us how to spin, so as
to rival Great Britain in her manufactures ; you set all these thou-
sands of spindles at work, which I have been delighted in viewing,
and which have made so many happy, by a lucrative employment."
'^ Yes, sir," said Slater, '< I suppose that I gave out the psdm, and
they have been singing to the tune ever since." ** We are g^ad to
hear abo, that you have realised something for yourself and
family," said the vice president. " Yes, sir, I have obtained a com-
petency." " We are all glad to hear that." " So am I glad to
know it," said Slater ; " for I should not like to be a pauper, in this
country, where they are put up at auction to the lowest bidder."
After this social talk with the president and his suite, General
Jackson observed in parting — ^' It must give you great pleasure to
see health and prosperity spread all around you, and to see the
progress which has been made, since you first came amongst us ;
the change is very great, I am told that cotton cloth is lower than
was ever known before. I trust you will persevere and go on to
perfection." " Cotton cloth is rather too low for profit, but I
suppose it is as good as raising corn for fifty cents per bushel, so
that we must not complain."
I visited the present Mrs. Slater, at her house in Pawtucket,
R. I. for the purpose of conversing with her on the last sickness
of her deceased husband ; and nothing could exceed the reverence
and affection with which she spoke of him ; his firmness and for-
bearance in conducting his business ; his abilities to regulate his
numerous concerns ; how he always relied on his own resources ;
his deep sense of gratitude for the care and goodness of a benignant
Providence over him, from his youth up ; when, left in early life
without a father's watchful eye to guide him, he bound himself to
Mr. Strutt ; when he left his native land, and visited a land of
strangers, without introduction or a single acquaintance, in rais-
ing him up friends, especially a father in Oziel Wilkinson, and
beloved companion ; and in affording him opportunities to prose-
cute his enterprise ; for these mercies, and others innumerable, I
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 265
have great canse for gratitude. He bore his various pains and
sickAeiBses with great patience, though he disliked that any one
should have the particular care of him but Mrs. Slater, who was
constantly at his call, and watching over his wishes, to alleviate
his complitints, and afford him all that a tender and affectionate
female can afford her best friend in distress. These consolations
he had to the last ; she watched over his dj^ing moments, and his
dying breathings, and heard the last word he uttered, ^-FarewellJ^*
That final word closed all his communications with man on earth ;
whereby he bade adieu to his wife and children and to all his con-
cerns. Mrs. Slater has endeared herself to his children, for her
constant and unwearied care to them when young, and to those
of them who died after her marriage to Mr. Slater.
The writer of this memoir can give testimony with what fidelity
and judgment she took the charge of Mr. Slater's domestic con-
cerns — the whole care of his family ; which she conducted in a
style becoming their situation ; and though the last seventeen
years were in a great measure years of sorrow and affliction, yet
his situation was greatly alleviated by a fiuthfiil firiend and a
partner of his griefs. Our deceased friend was sensible of her
value to him ; he arranged her property, and adjusted his will in
all respects satisfactorily and agreeable to the wishes of his widow,
according to their mutual agreements. Mrs. Slater knew him
and lived with him when his mental powers were fully developed;
he had improved himself by much reading of the best authors in
the English language. His perceptions were quick and his obser-
vations of mankind very extensive and ^penetrating. He knew
the depth of every person he conversed with ; his particular dis-
like was to falsehood, deception^ and dishonesty ; other faults he
appeared readily to forgive, these he never passed over without
severe censure. It was no wonder that so indefatigable a man as
he was himself, should dislike listlessness and idleness ; he used
to say, " I will help those who will try to help themselves ; but
* Foand in Mr. Slater's bible, written on a small piece of paper, a short
time before his death ; his mind had been depressed by some afflictive cir-
cumstances which weighed on him. Also the passage in Judges, chap. X.
15th verse, was marked by a leaf being turned down.
Psalms, chap. XLII. llih verse, — " Why art thou cast down, O my soul,
and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in Qod, for 1 shall yet
praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God."
Prov. chap. XVII. 28th verse, — " Even a fool when he holdeth his peace
is counted wise, and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed."
34
266 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
those who will not, I do not see it my duty ; such ought to sufbr
the consequences of their indolence ;" this was a fixed principle
with him. His tenderness to animals, and every thing under his
care, whether cat or dog, horse or cow, sheep or oxen, showed
that he was of a merciful disposition. He was not cruel and
morose, though he was frequently silent and reserved, especially
to persons with whom he was not intimate. It took some time for
him to imbend and become easy and talkative; but when be did,
his conversation was worth hearing ; and his sons hung on his
lips, and all his people treasured up his sayings and observations
as so many oracles of wisdom.
With Obadiah Brown (his partner, mentioned in the note below) *
he formed a close and sincere friendship, and always spoke of his
loss with sincere r^et In the year 1829, he observed to mey '' I
should not have been so tried, if Obadiah Brown had been living.*
This afiection was reciprocal ; for there was no one in whom the
son of Moses Brown placed more confidence, than in Samuel
Slater, whom he named as his executor in his will ; and showed,
to his last moments, how highly he esteemed his valuable partner
at the " Old Mill."
* Whereas there are acts unsettled between William Almy and Obadiak
Brown, under the firm of Almy &, Brown, and Samuel Slater, commencing
from the year one thousand eight hundred and three, and continuing to the
present time, and whereas they being desirous to bring them to a close,
hare in order thereto mutually and hereby fully agree that the following
terms shall be the final close thereof up to the first day in the present year,
viz. that Almy & Brown pay to Samuel Slater the sum of five thousand
dollars, and that the stock in the miil,^ and in the hands of Almy & Brown,
and Samuel Slater, or in the hands of their agents, as well as all debts doe
to them as owners of the cotton mill at Pawtucket, shall continue and belong
to them in the several proportions which they hold in the said mill, say one
third to each person ; and that all their acts with each other of every name
be considered as settled up to the said first day of the present year ; and that
the said acts, whether in the mill books, or in the books of either Ahny &
Brown, or Samuel Slater, be entered balanced up to the first day of the said
present year, excepting so far as relates to the balances of stock and out-
standing debts, which at that time was in the hands of the said Almy & .
Brown, and the said Samuel Slater or their agents, which stock and debts
belonged to them as owners of the said cotton mill at Pawtucket, shall, as
beforesaid, continue to belong to them as heretofore. It is also understood
that ail the notes and mortgages which they hold together as owners of the
cotton mill aforesaid, shall be considered as belonging to them the same as
the balances of stock and outstanding debts of any other description. It is
also agreed that all notes which they have of each other, that is to say
against each other, shall be given up as included in this settlement ; and
that this agreement and conclusion shall be binding upon them, the said
BXTBNSION OP THE COTTON BUSINESS. 267
CABOTSVILLE.
This pleasant village is growing up with astonishing rapidity,
and bids fiur to become, at no very distant day, a second Lowell.
A few weeks produce changes here that almost destroy the identity
of the place, and give to the visiter new objects of admiration on
every repetition of his visit. Streets are cut in every direction,
and dwellings and shops going up as if by some magic influence ;
yet, notwitfistanding the changes that are wrought from week to
week by the spirited enterprise of its citizens, the influx of popu-
lation and the increase of business ; its growth seems to be that of
health, and warranted by its extremely favourable location and
business facilities. The water power at this place is immense ;
and as yet, scarcely begun to be occupied. There is a neatness,
too, and good taste in the location of the streets and the arrange-
ment of buildings, which is not conmfion in manufacturing villages,
and which reflects great credit upon those who have superintended
the arrangement. The cotton factories are extensive, and in
appearance resembling those at Lowell. We were politely con-
ducted through the different establishments at this place a few
days since, by a friend connected with one of them, and were
highly pleased with the perfect good order which prevailed in
every department — every one apparently imderstanding and dis-
charging his duties with a promptness and ease which showed
fiuniliarity with the occupation. From the cotton factories and
machine shops we proceeded to the sword establishment of N. P.
Ames. This is well worth a visit from every one who has a taste
for finished cutlery. Mr. Ames is a contractor under government
for the manufacturing of swords for the ofiicers of the army and
navy of the United States.
The flourishing village of Willimantic is situated in Windham
county, Connecticut, on the Willimantic river, near its confluence
with another small river caUed the Natchaug. It extends about a
mile along the former stream. Twelve years ago, there were less
than a dozen houses, and those very indifferent ones, on the site
Almy 4b Brown, and the said Samuel Slater, their heirs, executors, and
administrators. Agreed to and signed, this nineteenth day of second month,
called February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
nineteen. Albit & Brown.
Samuel Slater.
Witnesses, Samuel Slater^ Jun., John Slater.
Obadiah Brown, named in this agreement, took the place of Smith Brown,
and continued in the business till his death.
268 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
of the present village.* Now there are four manufacturing esta-
blishments here, (running twelve thousand eight hundred spindles,
and making annually two millions nine hundred and fifteen thou-
sand yards of cotton cloth,) besides a very superior paper mill
lately erected, where printing paper of the best quality is made in
great quantities, and there is also a small sattinet manufactory.
There are three houses for public worship in the village, — two
free and three private schools, a public library, six stores where
goods are retailed, and one hundred dwelling houses, containing,
many of them, from two to four families each. I have resided
three years in Willimantic, and have no hesitation in asserting,
from personal experience and observation, that the schools are as
well attended here, the scholars, generally, as forward in their
education, and the inhabitants as moral in their conversation and
conduct, as the people of the neighbouring towns where the muant'
facturing system has not yet been introduced.
A great proportion of the inhabitants of this place, before they
came here, were possessed of little or no property. Many of them
were in a state of abject poverty. Not owning land for cultivation,
and having been educated to no trade, they had no regular employ-
ment for themselves or for their families, nor means of supporting
them. To them the manufacturing system has indeed proved a
blessing. It has furnished them and their children with steady
employment, enabled them to clothe their families and obtain icNr
them a regular amd comfortable subsistence, and to give their
children a decent education.
The system^ therefore, as it respects the classes above mentioned,
(and they constitute three fourths of the population of all the
manufacturing villages,) works well ; and no objections can be
offered against it which cannot, in my opinion, be readily and
satisfactorily answered.
GREENEVILLE.
This beautiful village, situated on the west bank of Shetacket
river, a little below its junction with the Quinebaug, and five
* No chapter in the history of national manners woold illustrate to wtD
' the progress of social life, as that dedicated to domestic architectare. The
fashions of dress and of amusement are generally capricious and irreducible
to rule, but every change in the dwellings of mankind, from the log hooaeto
the stately mansion, has been dictated by some principle of convenioMe,
nettneas, comfort or magnificence.
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 269
hundred rods above steam and packet navigation, has had almost
as rapid a growth as the villages of the west. In the year 1828,
tlie general assembly of Connecticut granted a charter to a com-
pany of individuals under the name of the " Norwich Water
Power Company," the object of which was the construction of
works to bring into use the immense water power then wholly
unoccupied at this place. The capital of the company was
$40,000 ; and having purchased a large tract of land lying on
both sides of the river, they proceeded to erect a dam and dig a
canal, through which the water of the river, necessary for manu*
&cturing purposes, might flow.
These works required much skill and labour. The river at
this place is much larger than any other in this section of the
oountry across which a dam had ever been erected for manufac-
turing purposes, and there are perhaps few if any larger in the
United States. It was doubted by many whether a dam could be
made to stand permanently against so powerful a stream, and one
subject also to great annual freshets. It was built of stone, in
length 280 feet, and of a character so solid and substantial, as
when finished there seemed little reason to apprehend that it
would be carried away. Experience thus far has strengthened
this opinion. The abutments of this dam are certainly very
handsome and durable specimens of stone masonry. The canal
is about one mile (4620 feet) in length, 46 in width at the surface,
and 10 feet deep. These works were completed in 1830.
It will be recollected that the manufiicturing business was in a
state of great depression about this period of time ; so great indeed
that many persons entertained the belief that it would never
revive again in New England. The prospect was gloomy indeed,
but the work had been commenced and was vigorously prose-
cuted. The growth of the village, as has been remarked, has
been most rapid. It already contains about sixty dwelling houses,
one church, two stores, one tavern, three firms of carpenters
engaged in building, one firm of masons, one shoemaker's esta-
blishment, one tailor's, two milliner's, and' one blacksmith's, (be-
sides a blacksmithery establishment connected with each manU"
fBuatory). Population about 850.
Of the manufacturing establishments, it may be proper to speak
more in detail. •
The largest is that of the Thames Company, for the manu&c-
ture of cotton cloth. It is one of the finest edifices of the kind in
New England, being built of brick, five stories high, 138 in length
fay 44 in width. There are employed in it about 180 peiaont ' '
270 MRMOIR OF 8AMUBL SLATER.
different ages and sexes ; about 42,000 lbs. of cotton are worked
up in it per month, and about 132,000 yards of cloth manu&c-
tured in the same space of time.
The mill of Messrs. Kennedy & Tillinghast, the Shetucket
Tick Factory, for the manufacture of bed ticking, contains 1660
spindles, and employs about 70 persons. About 14,0001bs. of
cotton are worked, and 28,000 yards of cloth manufactured each
month.
The Oreeneville Manu&cturing Co. employs about 60 persons,
and turns out about 12,000 yards of flannel per month, using for
that purpose about 48001bs. of wool.
The Chelsea Manufiu^turing Company employs about 20 per-
sons in the manu&cture of paper. About 28001b6. of rags are
worked up each day. Some idea of the amount of business done
by this company may be inferred from the fact, that the paper
sold to a single newspaper establishment in the city of New Tork,
amounts to about $20,000 per annum.
In addition to these establishments there are two manu&ctories
of carpets, one of which is just getting into operation, and which
together employ about 30 persons ; a machine shop which employs
about 20 men ; a manufactory of wood-screws which employs a
similar number ; a window sash and blind manufactory which em-
ploye about a dozen ; and a manufectory of mould buttons which
employs about 20 persons. The place is still increasing, nume-
rous dwelling houses and stores now being in progress. A num-
ber of very eligible sites for manufacturing establishments of any
description are yet unoccupied, and there is a large amount of
water power unemployed. No ardent spirits are sold at any place
within the limits originally purchased by the Water Power Com-
pany, and in ail deeds or grants of land made by them, is a clause
requiring the observance of that regulation, the penalty for the
▼Eolation of which, if persisted in, after thirty days' notice in
writing given to discontinue the same, is a forfeiture of the build-
ing where the offence shall have been committed, with the land
annexed to the same, to the grantors, their successors and
assigns.
The village is situated in a delightful tract of country, and is
▼cry neat and attractive in its appearance. The dwellings, though
not large, contain generally from two to four families, most of
which take boarders. Being all painted white, they have a uni-
form and handsome appearance, and seem to be the abode of
industry and contentment. The place derives its name from
William P. Greene, Esq. formerly of Boston, now of this city, to
BXTSNSIOM OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 271
whose capital and public spirit, not merely this village, but this
town and vicinity are very largely indebted for their prosperity.
The theime we have selected would seem to afibrd little room
for the exercise of the £Bmcy or the imagination. Still, the scene
where our article is laid, is by no means barren of poetical asso-
ciations. The brave and warlike Miantonimo, the sachem of the
Narragansets, hes buried on the estate of the Water Power Com-
pany, all unconscious of the buzzing wheels and whirring spindles
which are revolving so rapidly around his last resting place.
We may as well add that the grave of Uncas, the sachem
of the Mohicans, is also in the vicinity, near the residence of the
Hon. Calvin Goddard. Miantonimo, it will be remembered, was
defeated and taken prisoner by Uncas, and subsequently put to
death. Life's fitAil fever being over, the victorious and the van-
quished, the captive and the conqueror, sleep quietly and peace-
fiilly together.
There are a number of cotton and woollen Victories established
in the towns along the Ohio. Cincinnati is a rival of Pittsburg,
in manufactures of iron, &c. There are a number of furnaces
fer smelting iron ore, in the counties along the Ohio, particularly
in the region of Hocking River. Glass is manufactured in seve-
ral towns in the same part of the state. Iron is also made in some
of the counties bordering on Lake Erie. On the Muskingum,
below Zanesville, salt is manufactured at various places, for about
thirty miles, — ^260,000 bushels are made annually. Considerable
quantities are also made on Yellow Creek, about fourteen or fifteen
miles above Steuben ville. In 1830, there were, in this state,
$334,672 invested in the manufacture of salt, and 446,350 bushels
were made. In every town and village in the state, all the ordi-
nary manu&ctures, such as hats, cabinet ware, ice, are made to
an extent proportioned to the demand. And almost every &rmer
is the manufacturer of a large part of the articles of wearing
apparel, &c. which his family need. It is impossible to make any
estimate of these things ; if it could be done, it would exhibit a very
great amount of manufactures of this sort, and of immense value.
Cincinnati is the great commercial emporium of Ohio, — and,
next to New Orleans, the largest city in the valley of the Missis-
sippi. It was founded in 1789. There have been built, at this
city, no less than one hundred and fifty steamboats ! The value of
the manu&ctures of this city is very great ; exceeding $2,500,000
annually ! Vast quantities of cabinet work, hats, &c., are here
made for exportation.
1. There are ten foundries, including a brass and bell foundry,
272 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
and one for casting type. 2. There are three or four cotton facto-
ries, and fifteen rolling mills, and steam engine factories and shops.
3. There are five breweries. 4. There is a button jfactory, and a
steam coopering establishment, where several thousand barrels
are made, annually, by machinery, propelled by steam. 6. Two
steam flour mills, and five or six steam saw mills. 6. There is
one chemical laboratory. There are not less than forty different
manufacturing establishments driven by steam power.
" We had the pleasure," says a traveller, " a few days since, of
visiting the works of this company, situated on the north bank of
the Appomattox, about four miles from Petersburgh, and were no
less gratified by the beauty and substantial appearance of the
buildings than surprised at the expedition with which they have
been erected. They consist of two cotton mills, three stories high,
a machine shop and sizing house, built of granite of a superior
quality, obtained from a quarry on the company's land. The
principal mill is 118 feet long by 44 feet wide ; the other 90 feet
long by 40 feet wide. They will contain about 4,000 spindles
and 170 looms ; a large portion of which have been set up and
ready for use. In addition to these buildings, the company have
erected a granite house for a store, and fifteen or twenty frame
tenements, as residences for the workmen, each to contain two
families ; and preparations have been made to erect as many more
as the establishment may require. When the whole shall be com-
pleted, and the mills in ftill operation, it is estimated that Matoaca
will contain between four and five hundred inhabitants. It had
already assumed the appearance of a village, and will, in a short
time, vie with any manufacturing establish ];nent in the country,
for beauty of situation, the substantial construction of its buildings,
and the care and attention bestowed on the comfortable acconmx)-
dation of the workmen.
" It is expected to put the works in operation early in the next
month, and we understand that it is the intention of the company
to manufacture all the cotton spun in iheir mills, into cloth.
Matoaca furnishes another gratifying evidence of the enterprise
of our fellow citizens, and of the increasing prosperity of Peters-
burgh. We have now, in addition to the several well known flour
mills, five cotton, and two cotton seed oil mills ; and there remains
a large unemployed water power on the Appomattox."
" It gives me great pleasure," says Webster, " on occasion of so
large an assembly of the city of Buffalo, to express my thanks for
the kindness and hospitality with which 1 have been received in this
EXTENSION OP THE COTTON BUSINESS. 273
young, but growing and interesting town. The launching of
another vessel on these inland seas, is but a firesh occasion of
gratulation on the rapid growth, the great active prosperity, and
the exciting future prospects of this town. Eight years ago, fellow
citizens, I enjoyed the pleasure of a short visit to this place : there
was then but one steamboat on Lake Erie ; it made its passage
once in ten or fifteen days only ; and I remember that persons in
my own vicinity, intending to travel to the far west, by that con-
veyance, wrote to friends to learn the day of the conmiencement
of the contemplated vojrage. I understand that there are now
eighteen steamboats plying on the lake, all finding full employ-
ment; and that a boat leaves Buffalo, thrice every day, for Detroit
and the ports in Ohio. The population of Buffalo, now four times
as large as it was then, has kept pace with the augmentation of
its commercial business. This rapid progress is a sample, but cer-
tainly is not to be regarded as the measure, of the future advance-
ment of the city. It will probably not be long before the products
of the fisheries of the east, the importations of the Atlantic frontier,
the productions, mineral and vegetable, of all the northwestern
states, and the sugars of Louisiana, will find their way hither by
inland water communication. Much of this, indeed, has already
taken place, and is of daily occurrence. Ifany who remember
the competition between ButbAo and Black Rock, for the site of
the city, will doubtless live to see the city spread over both.
^* Desiring always to avoid extremes, and to observe a prudent
moderation in regard to the protective system, I yet hold steadiness
and perseverance, in maintaining what has been established, to be
essential to the public prosperity. Nothing can be worse than that
that which concerns the daily labour and the daily bread of whole
classes of people should be subject to frequent and violent changes.
It were far better not to move at all, than to move forward and
then fall back again. A just and leading object in the whole tariff
system, is the encouragement and protection of American manual
labour. I confess, that every day's experience convinces me more
and more of the high propriety of regarding this object. Our
government is made for all, not for a few. Its object is to promote
the greatest good of the whole ; and this ought to be kept con-
stantly in view in its administration. The far greater number of
those who maintain the government belong to what may be called
the industrious or productive classes of the community. With us
labour is not depressed, ignorant and unintelligent. On the con-
trary, it is active, spirited, enterprising ; seeking its own rewards,
35
274 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
and laying up for its own competence and its own support The
motive to labour is the great stimulus to our whole society ; and
no system is wise or just which does not afford this stimulus, as
far as it may. The protection of American labour, against the
injurious competition of foreign labour, so far, at least, as respects
general handicraft productions, is known, historically, to have
been one end designed to be obtained by establishing the constitu*
tion ; and this object, and the constitutional power to accomplish
it, ought never to be surrendered or compromised in any degree.
The interest of labour has an importance in our system, beyond
what belongs to it as a mere question of political economy. It is
connected with our forms of government, and our whole social
system. The activity and prosperity which at present prevail
among us, as every one must notice, are produced by the excite*
ment of compensating prices of labour ; and it is fervently to be
hoped that no unpropitious circumstances, and no unwise policyi
may counteract this efficient cause of general competency and
public happiness." Again, when at
Pittsburg, July 5th, 1833. << The chief magistrate of Pittsboig
has been kind enough to express sentiments favourable to myself
as a friend to domestic industry. Domestic industry ! How much
of national power and opulence, how much of individual comfort
and respectability, that phrase implies! And with what force
does it strike us, as we are here, at the confluence of the two
rivers whose united currents constitute the Ohio, and in the midst
of one of the most flourishing and distinguished manufacturing
cities in the Union ! Many thousand miles of inland navigation,
running through a new and rapidly improving country, stretch
away below. Internal communications, completed or in prepress,
connect the city with the Atlantic and the lakes. A hundred
steam-engines are in daily operation, and nature has supplied the
fuel which feeds their incessant flames, on the spot itself, in ex-
haustless abundance. Standing here, in the midst of such a
population, and with such a scene around us, how great is the
import of these words, * domestic industry !' Next to the pre-
servation of the government itself, there can hardly be a more
vital question, to such a community as this, than that which re-
gards their own employments, and the preservation of that policy
which the government has adopted and cherished, for the en-
cou raiment and protection of those employments. This is not,
in a society like this, a matter which affects the interest of a par-
ticular class, but one which affects the interest of all classes. It
runs through the whole chain of human occupation and employ-
EXT£N8ION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 275
ment, and touches the means of living and the comfort of all.
New England has conformed herself to the settled policy of the
country, and has given to her capital and her labour a correspond-
ing direction. She has now become vitally interested in the pre-
servation of the system. Her prosperity is identified, not perhaps
with any particular degree of protection, but with the preserva-
tion of the principle ; and she is not likely to consent to yield the
principle, under any circumstance whatever. And who would
dare to yield it ? Who, standing here, and looking round on this
community and its interests, would be bold enough to touch the
spring, which moves so much industry, and produces so much
happiness ? Who would shut up the mouths of these vast coal
pits ? Who stay the cargoes of manufactured goods, now floating
down a river, one of the noblest in the world, and stretching
through territories almost boundless in extent, and unequalled in
fertility ? Who would quench the fires of so many steam engines,
or stay the operations of so much well employed labour ? I cannot
conceive how any subversion of that policy, which has hitherto
been pursued, can take place, without great public embarrassment,
and great private distress. I have said, that I am in favour of
protecting American manual labour ; and, after the best reflection
I can give the subject, and from the lights which I can derive from
the experience of ourselves and others, I have come to the con-
clusion that such protection is just and proper ; and that to leave
American labour to sustain a competition with that of the over-
peopled countries of Europe, would lead to a state of things to
which the people could never submit. This is the great reason
why I am for maintaining what has been established. I see at
home, I see here, I see wherever I go, that the stimulus, which has
excited the existing activity, aad is producing the existing pro-
sperity of the country, is nothing else than the stimulus held out
to labour by compensating prices. I think this effect is visible
every where, from Penobscot to New Orleans, and manifest in the
condition and circumstances of the great body of the people : for
nine tenths of the whole people belong to the laborious, industrious,
and productive classes ; and on these classes the stimulus acts.
We perceive that the price of labour is high, and we know that
the means of living are low ; and these two truths speak volumes
in fevour of the general prosperity of the country. Is it not true,
that sobriety, and industry, and good character, can do more for a
man here than in any other part of the world ? And is not this
truth, which is so obvious that none can deny it, founded in this
plain reason, that labour, in this country, earns a better reward
276 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
than Buy where else, and so gives more comfort, more individual
independence, and more elevation of character."
MAssnxoif, Ohio, 1825.
" Neither the limits of my time or paper would allow me, in my last, to
say one word in relation to the beautiful and hospitable village in which it
is my happiness at present to sojourn. Six years ago the place where it
stands contained only such houses as were occupied by the tillers of the
soil. Within that time a place of extensive business has grown up, as by
the stroke of a magician's wand. I do not mean, however, to be understood
that Massillon has yet attained the dimensions of a very considerable town.
It is, on the contrary, not more than one quarter as large as most towns in
the country which have not a greater amount of trade. But so far as it has
been built, the buildings give the strongest evidence of its prosperity, and
foretell the rapid growth which it will experience for many years. Its stores,
warehouses, and dwellings, are large and neatly built, and almost uniformly
of brick. There is not a single ordinary building in the place, except two
or three that stood here before the village was laid out. The streets are
arranged in the most convenient order, and the grounds laid out with am
uncommon degree of taste. — Nature seems to have indulged her fancy ia
preparing for the approach of art, and art has by no means rendered to natoie
an ungrateful return. AH things considered, I think it is one of the moat
pleasant villages I have ever seen, and, located as it is, in the midst of
numerous water-mill sites, beds of coal, limestone, and iron ore, all on the
very banks of the Ohio and Erie canal, and all, too, near at hand and ia
possession of its enterprising citizens ; situated in the centre of one of the
largest and most fertile districts of Ohio, a district inhabited by a very
numerous and industrious population, it cannot fail of becoming, in a few
years, one of the most important places of the great west. In addition to
its communication by water with New York, New Orleans, and Philadelphiti
a rail road, of which Massillon will constitute the western terminoa, wiB
doubtless be constructed in the course of two or three years, to connect with
the Pennsylvania rail road, which is to be extended to Pittsburg. The
necessary charter has already been obtained from the legislature of this state,
and persons ready to build the road are only waiting for a similar act from
the next session of the legislature of Pennsylvania.
^' Before the construction of the Ohio and Erie canal the vast resources of
this country were comparatively little known, and were of little value. By
means of that great work the value of wheat, the staple commodity of the
country, has appreciated from twelve and a half to eighty seven and a half
cents per bushel, and the cost of supplies from the cities has been diminish-
ed in an equal ratio. Of course the inducements for the farmer to grow
crops to any greater extent than was necessary for his own consumption
was very slight. Some idea of the change which has supervened since the
completion of the canal may be gathered from the fact, that this day, while
the harvest is yet unfinished, there have been purchased, at the warehouses
in this village, upwards of ffteen hundred bushels of wheat. And I am
assured by one of the most respectable dealers here, that, during the business
EXTBNflllON OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 277
season, from three to foor hundred bushels in a day is not an anusoal
quantity to be received at the warehouses and mills.
^ With this trade, then, very rapidly increasing, you will not doubt that,
when all other resources are brought into action, Massillon will become an
important town.
^ The crops of all descriptions, throughout this whole country, are this
year unusually abundant, but as they flow into granaries entirely empty,
present prices are likely to be maintained. The farmers upon this exube-
rant soil are all growing rich, and the industry of every man reaps a liberal
reward."
*' I wonder not," says an English writer, '^ that the first settlers in
Virginia, with the bold Captain Smith of chivalrous memory at
their head, should have fought so stoutly to dispossess the valiant
fiitber of Pocahontas of his fair domain, for I certainly never saw
a more tempting territory. Stonington is about two miles from
the most romantic point of the Potomac river, and Virginia spreads
her wild, but beautiful and most fertile paradise on the opposite
shore. The Maryland side partakes of the same character, and
perfectly astonished us by the profusion of her wild fruits and
flowers. We had not been long within reach of the great falls of
the Potomac, before a party was made for us to visit them ; the
walk from Stonington to these falls, is through scenery that can
hardly be called forest, park or garden ; but which partakes of all
three. A little English girl accompanied us, who had but lately
left her home, ^Oh how many English ladies would glory in such
a garden as this !' and in truth they might ; cedars, tulip-trees,
sumacs, junipers, and oaks of various kinds, most of them new to
UBf shaded our path. Wild vines with their rich expansive leaves,
and their sweet blossom, rivaling the mignionette in fragrance,
clustered round their branches, strawberries in full bloom, violets,
anemones, heart's-ease, and wild pinks, with many other and still
lovelier flowers, literally covered the ground. The arbor judeas,
the dog-wood, in its fullest glory of star-like flowers, azalias, and
wild roses, dazzled our eyes whichever way we turned them. It
was the most flowery two miles I ever walked. The sound of the
falls is heard at Stonington, and the gradual increase of this sound
is one of the agreeable features of this delicious walk ; I know not
why the rush of water is so delightful to the ear ; all other mono-
tonous sounds are wearjring, and harass the spirits, but I never
met any one who did not love to listen to a waterfall."
'' The manafactures of Virginia, like her coal mines, are but just begin-
ning to rise into importance. But recently the attention of her citizens has
been directed to the subject, and few out of the state are aware how far she
278 MBMOIR OF SAMU£L 8LAT£R.
has already advaoced, and how rapidly she continnes to adranee in this
branch of industry. I make no reference to the manufacture of tobacco, for
in this she has long been engaged, with celebrity and success. I woold
observe, however, while mentioning it, that this branch has increased im-
mensely within a few years, and now gives employment, in Richmond and
Petersburg alone, to not less than 1,500 persons. This business is also
extensively carried on in Lynchburg. But the manufactories to which I
particularly allude, are such as are carried on elsewhere, in manufacturing
the raw materials common to the United States, and in which the question
of competition may be considered as involved.
" In Richmond, and Manchester, on the south bank of the river, daring the
last year, a large cotton manufactory, a large paper mill, and an extensive
iron foundry, all went into operation. They are all owned by chartered
companies, have adequate capitals, and the buildings are of the most sub-
stantial kind, and in the finest order. There are now in full operation here,
two cotton manufactories, three iron foundries, to one of which a steam
engine manufactory is attached, one cotton seed pi\ mill, one paper mill, one
screw manufactory, two cut nail works, and an extensive puddling fomaee
and iron making and manufacturing establishment is nearly completed. A
number of other companies have been chartered by the legislature, for the
purpose of carrying on various other branches of manufacturing, all of which
will, no doubt, soon be in operation. Besides the manufactories above men-
tioned in the vicinity of Richmond, few places can boast of so large or
superior flour mills. The Galego mill, which is perhaps the largest in tlie
world, alone runs 22 pair of stones, and makes five hundred barrels of flour
daily. HaxaPs mill is but little inferior to this, and Rutherford's and Clark'%
though less than the others, are considerable mills. The Richmond city
mills' flour is the finest bread flour in the United States, and commands in
the foreign markets the highest prices. There are also in this vicinity at
least six corn mills.
*^ The water power at and near Richmond is immense, and easily avail-
able ; it is the entire James River, which is nearly half a mile wide, and fdb
more than a hundred feet in a few miles. The advantages of its position
for manufacturing purposes, are many and great. Situated at the head of
good navigation,— open nearly all the year, — adjacent to a rich coal field,—
connected with the interior, a» it soon will be, by a canal leading through a
fine iron district, — with a healthy and pleasant climate, surrounded by a
good soil, nothing can prevent its becoming one of the greatest manufaeturiiig
cities in the Union.
'^ Next to Richmond in importance, and in some respects in advance of it,
is Petersburg, at the head of the tide water of the Appomattox. Here cotton
manufactories grow up and flourish, as if by magic. They have five or six
here now, all of them extensive establishments, and some of them with
numerous out buildings. One of them, a short distance from Petersburg,
called by an Indian name that I have forgotten, is an establishment inferior
to few, if any, in the northern states, and with its houses built for the work-
men, forms quite a village. All these manufactories employ white labourers.
The experiment, however, of negro or slave labour, has been made in one
of the manufactories at Richmond, and has proved fully successful. Other
manufactories are about to be erected near Petersburg, in some of which it
EXTBNSlOIf OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 279
18 expected that negro labour will be introdoced geoerally, if not exclusively.
Indeed, there is every reason to believe that it is better adapted to the manu-
factory than to the field, and that the negro character is susceptible of a high
degree of manufacturing cultivation. Should this kind of labour be found
to succeed, of which I think, from some years' acquaintance with it, there
can be no doubt, — it will give a decided advantage to the southern over the
Borthem or European manufacturer. This kind of labour will be much
cheaper, and far more certain and controllable. He will have nothing to do
with ' strikes' or other interruptions, that frequently produce serious delay
and loss to the employer. Before the present year the average expense for
a good negro man per year, might be estimated at one hundred dollars, for
field labour. Some superior hands, well acquainted with tobacco manufac-
turing, or good mechanics,' would perhaps go to one hundred and fifty dollars.
These prices include hire, food, clothing, &c. This year, in consequence of
the great demand for labourers on the railroads, they are at least twenty
dollars higher.
^ The water power of Petersburg, though inferior in magnitude to that
of Richmond, is yet very considerable. It is also without the advantages
of an immediate connexion with the coal and iron regions ; nor has it so
good a navi^tion as the latter, as vessels only of six feet draught of water
can come to it, while those drawing eleven may go to Richmond ; yet is
Petersburg as well, if not better, situated for the cotton manufacturing than
Richmond. A railroad of sixty miles in length connects it with the Roanoke,
and brings to it daily large quantities of cotton, from which it can have the
first and best selection. This, together with the cheapness of water power,
building materials, and all the articles that enter into the consumption of
those who labour, give to it great advantages. Besides its cotton manufac-
tories, it has a cotton seed oil mill, and several flour mills.
'* Besides these two prominent places, many others may be found in East-
ern Virginia, but little less favourably situated for manufactories. At
Fredericksburg, on the Rappahannock, is a considerable water power, and
on nearly all the rivers that empty into the Chesapeake, there are more or
less sites. On the James River, between Richmond and the mountains,
they are almost innumerable, and when the state improvements will have
been completed, they will all be in good location. Manufacturing is carried
on at Wheeling, on the Ohio, but Western Virginia is identified with the
great valley of the Mississippi, the future greatness or prosperity of which
no imagination can reach, — it is a world in itself, and the world beyond it
cannot change its destinies.
''Heretofore the cheapness and superior productiveness of land in the new
states, has operated to retard the prosperity of Eastern Virginia ; and those
causes, to which has recently been added the high price of cotton, are now
seriously checking her advancement, by withdrawing much of her money
capital, and many of her citizens and labourers to those states, attracted by
the prospects there ofiered, in the cultivation of the soil, a pursuit more con-
genial to the habits and feelings of Virginians than commercial or manu-
facturing enterprises. If Virginians had remained on her own soil^ and
retained, for her own use, the labourers she has grown, and the capital they
have earned, instead of building up other states, she Would be a giant in
these days. It may be better, however, for her sons, herself, and the Union,
280 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
that the has peopled Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama, than
that she should be the first state of the Union, or that the banks of her riven
should be covered with towns and manufactories.
" A new day is dawning in this part of the Old Dominion. She has found
that boasting of her past greatness and glory will add nothing to her present
prosperity. The active and regenerating spirit of the west has infused new
life into her veins, and that same spirit makes her less metaphysical and
more rational. The spirit of improvement is abroad, and within a year or
two has worked wonders. Every where, railroads, canals, mines, and manu-
factories, are the subjects of discussion and action. Enterprising citizens
of other states and countries are directing their attention to the many in-
ducements she offers for the profitable employment of their skill, their labour,
or their capital. Her own enterprising citizens have asked for and will
doubtless obtain additional capital by the establishment of new banks* Old
habits and feelings may, for a while, check her onward progress, by denying
to her the facilities necessary to the full development of her vast resoareei ;
yet must the genius of the age triumph ; and when the old lion fairly shakes
the dew from his mane, and the cobwebs are cleared from her halls oi legis-
lation, the manufacturers of the northern states and of the old world will
have to look well to their spinning jennies."— Pentwy/vonian.
'< Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally
among the body of the people, being necessary for the preserva-
tion of their rights and liberties ; and as these depend on spreading
the opportunities and advantages of education in die various parts of
the country, and among the different orders of the people, it shall be
the duty of legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods of this
commonwealth (Massachusetts), to cherish the interest of literature
and the sciences, and all seminaries of them ; public schools, and
grammar schools in the towns ; to encourage private societies, and
public institutions, rewards and immunities, for the promotion of
agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trades, manufactures, and a
natural history of the country, to countenance and inculcate the
principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and pri-
vate charity, industry and frugality, honesty and punctuality in
their dealings ; sincerity, good humour, and all social affections,
and generous sentiments among the people." It is not saying too
much, when we assert that Slater's opinions and conduct coincided
with the above sentiments : and that we have reason to be thankfiil
that his footsteps were directed to America ; that it was put into
his heart to visit these shores, for the purpose of introducing the
cotton spinning into the United States ; without which we never
could have maintained our independence, but should have relied
on foreign supplies. Its establishment is therefore one of the
greatest events that has yet taken place in the whole world, and
EXTENSION OF THE COTTON BUSINESS. 281
will in the end be the means of revolutionising the whole inhabit-
able globe.
Though I was the personal friend of Mr. Slater, and had a
better opportunity, than any other individual, of knowing his
opinions and views on all subjects connected with business, poli-
tics, and religion ; yet it is not my intention to press any of his
peculiarities, nor did I design to become his eulogist. It was my
duty to record the fair fatne that had gathered round his successful
Jife. In consequence of his being the introducer of the carding,
drawing, roving, and spinning by water, in the improved state
as used by Mr. Strutt at Belper, both for stocking yarn and twist ;
il was not thought improper to connect his memoir with an Essay
on Manufiu:tures ; so that this circumstance may be noted by
ftitare historians of the cotton business in the United States. In
this account it was important that a correct statement should be
preserved, which would have been difficult to obtain, if the pre-
sent opportunity had been lost. I am only anxious for the authen-
ticity of my statements, for which I feel myself responsible, and
liable to correction. My own views of the character of Samuel
Slater are expressed in two words — the Arhoright of America.
Mr. Slater no sooner found that his business collected children
and young people, who were destitute of the means of instruction,
and knowing the plan of his old master, Strutt, at Belper, in esta-
blishing a Sunday school, than he followed his example, and opened
a school in his own house, sometimes teaching the scholars himself,
but generally hired a person to perform that duty. One young
man from Providence college was deterred by his father, who
was a minister of the standing order in Connecticut, who consider-
ed it a profanation of the Sabbath. But Mr. Slater persevered,
and he was assisted by his father-in-law Oziel Wilkinson, and
Obadiah Brown — and I am acquainted with persons who are in-
debted to that institution for all the early instruction they ever re-
ceived. There are several living who attended this school at
Pawtucket. Mr. Slater told me, that he claimed to have com-
menced the first Sunday school in New England, and I promised
him that it should not be forgotten.
These schools have followed almost every manufacturing esta-
blishment that I am acquainted with ; and there are no places
where they are of so much importance. I observe in the History
of Derbyshire, England, that the school which Mr. Strutt establish-
ed in 1782 is still in existence at Belper, and endowed so that four
hundred children are taught, in the common rudiments of English
instruction. This gave rise to Sunday schools in Britain, and the
36
282 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER*
same cause led to their establishment in New England. There
may be different opinions respecting what kind of education shall
be afforded at Sunday schools, but there can be but one opinion
upon their general utihty, more especially in manufacturing towns
and villages. They have had a very happy effect in the state of
Rhode Island, and they have led to the formation of other schools
in different parts where instruction had been much neglected.
I conversed with the Rev. Wm. Collier, now engaged in the
City Mission in Boston. He stated to me at his house, corner of
Chambers and Green street, that he remembers perfectly well in
the spring of 1796 that, while at Providence college. President
Maxcy informed him that he had received an application from
Mr. Slater of Pawtucket, to send him one of the students to in-
struct a Sunday school, and that he would compensate them for
their services. The reason of the president's giving Mr. Collier
the first offer was, that he was not able to pay his college expenses.
Mr. Collier said, that the compensation would have been a great
benefit to him, but he doubted the propriety of teaching a school
on Sunday, as he was religiously disposed, and was associated
with those who had received their early impressions from the
preaching and writings of Mr. Whitfield, and the idea struck him
as a profanation of the Sabbath. The president reasoned with him
on the opportunity he would have to do good in Pawtucket;
stating that there had never been a school of any description theiei
and no place of worship, and probably no religious or moral in-
struction, certainly not of a public nature. There was no restric-
tion as to the course of instruction, and he could conduct it, so as
to be most useful to the children. These considerations caused
him to accept the offer, and he began his labours in the Sunday
school on the following Sabbath. He does not recollect that there
was any particular form of religious instruction introduced by him,
but has no doubt that he did so in a conversational manner with
the young people, as he was at that time very religious and dis-
posed to converse with people on the subject.
Mr. Allen succeeded him in teaching the school.
At a fine water privilege in Athens, Georgia, there was estahlished a
cotton mill with machinery from England, by Dearing & Co.; it is still in
operation, and one also in Columbus. Mills are erecting in Tennessee on a
small scale ; and in Kentucky they are anxious to obtain persons who un-
derstand the business. The time is approaching when there will be facto-
ries at the south and far-west: New England must send out her sons to
superintend their operations.
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 283
CHAPTER VII.
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS.
** Seal op the mouth of outrage for a while,
Till we can clear these ambiguitiea
And know their spring, their head, their true descent**
This chapter is designed to preserve important information
which came too late to be arranged in the first part of the work, to
which it more properly belongs. The pieces by Tench Coxe are
those referred to by Fisher Ames, and which were published
under his patronage. They are characteristic of the writer, who
was constantly adapting the energies of the people to the natural
resources of their country, congenial with their habits, their soil,
and their climate.
*' A Plan for encouraging Agriculture^ and increasing the value of
Farms in the Midland and more Western counties of Pennsylvania^
hy means of Manufactures applicable to several other parts of that
State^ and to many parts of the United Slates*
"In a country, the people, the soil and the climate of which are
well suited to agriculture, and which has inmiense natural trea-
sures in the bowels and on the surface of the earth, the creation of
a ready, near^ and stable market for its spontaneous and agricultural
productions^ by the introduction and increase of internal trade and
manufactures^ is the most effectual method to promote husbandry^ and
to advance the interests of the proprietors and cultivators of the earth.
This position has been assumed by one and maintained and relied
upon afterwards by others of the most informed and sound minds
in Great Britain, in relation to the internal trade, manufactures,
and landed interests of that kingdom, although it is an island, pos-
sessing uncommon advantages in its artificial roads, canals, rivers,
and bays, which, altogether, aflbrd the inhabitants a peculiar
facility in transporting their surplus produce, with very little
expense, to foreign markets.
" To a nation inhabiting a great continent, not yet traversed by
artificial roads and canals, the rivers of which, above their natural
navigation, have been hitherto very little improved, many of
* See Fither Ames's Letters, pp. 51, 52.
284 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
whose people are at this moment closely settled upon lands which
actually sink, from one fifth to one half the value of their crops,
in the mere charges of transporting them to the seaport towns,
and others of whose inhabitants cannot at present send their pro-
duce to a seaport for its whole value, a thorough sense of the truth
of the position is a matter of unequaled magnitude and import-
ance.
" The state of things in most of the counties of Pennsylvania
which are contiguous to or in the vicinity of the river Susquehan-
nah, and its extensive branches, is considered to be really and
precisely that which has been described ; and the object of this
paper is, to suggest hints for a' plan of relief from the great expense
and inconvenience they at present sustain, by creating a market
town for their produce, on the main body, of that river, at some
proper place between the confluence of its eastern and western
branches, and the lower end of its present navigation.
''It is proposed that the sum of five hundred thousand dollars,
to be applied as hereinafter mentioned, be raised in either of the
three following methods — that is to say, either by five thousand
subscriptions of one hundred dollars each, to the capital stock of a
company, to be temporarily associated for that purpose, without
any exclusive privileges. Or, by the sale of one hundred thou-
sand lottery tickets at five dollars each, or fifty thousand tickets
at ten dollars each ; the whole enhanced amount of which is to be
redrawn in prizes, agreeably to a scheme which will be herein-
after exhibited. Or, by the application of five hundred thousand
dollars of the moneys in the treasury (or otherwise in the command)
of the state of Pennsylvania. The inducements to the operation,
either to the states, to the adventurers in the lottery, or to the sub-
scribers of the stock of the associated company, will appear in the
sequel to be an augmentation of about one hundred per cent in
the value of the property to be embraced ; that is, in a profit of
about one hundred per cent, on the moneys to be raised or advanced
for the purchase of the lands, and the erection of the buildings.
'' The application of the above sum of five hundred thousand
dollars, might be as follows : —
'' 1st. In the purchase of land on the western bank of Susque-
hannah, as a town seat, to be regularly laid ofi" in a town or city
for inland trade and manufactures, with streets sixty feet wide, in
oblongs of five hundred feet, fronting the southwestern or preva-
lent summer winds, by two hundred and twenty feel ; each oblong
to be intersected by a twenty foot alley, running lengthwise, or
from the northwest to southeast, so as to give all the lots south-
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 285
west front exposures, or southwest exposures and outlets in the
rear."
Here follows a detail of particulars which are too local and
unimportant to be followed minutely. The above sum is therein
appropriated to the purchases of land, the erection of houses,
mills, rope- walks, tan-yards, bake-houses, steel furnaces, soap-
boilers, tallow-chandlers, blacksmiths, coopers, wheelwrights, cop-
persmiths, brass-founders, turners, skin-dressers, gunsmiths, and
plumbers' shops; malt houses, breweries, distilleries, printing office,
bleach-yards, fulling-mills, potteries, water forges, tobacco and
snuff manufactories, lumber yards, boat-builders' yards, school
houses, churches,- taverns, sail-cloth manufactory, brick-kilns,
twine and cord fitctories, starch works, and dwelling houses,
public library, parchment and glue manufactories, pump maker's
shed and yard, &c.
<< The buildings above mentioned will form a town of one thou-
sand houses, useful work shops and factories by water, fire, or
hand, all of stone or brick, which is larger by near one half than
the borough of Lancaster. Being on the river Susquehannah, a
very great and extensive natural canal, which, with its branches,
flows through a country of fifteen millions of acres, and will be
connected with the lakes, the position for a town must be consi-
dered as warranting a presumption that the lots would be more
valuable. In order to extend this advantage, the buildings should
be erected on every second or perhaps every third lot, whereby a
number of interval lots would be left, which would be nearly of
the same value. A further advantage would result from such a
disposition of the houses, as the vacant lots could be usefully
applied to garden purposes until they should be built upon. As
the proposed houses and workshops would be of stone and brick,
the possibility of the progress of fire would be less, if the owners
of the interval lots should build wooden houses bereafler, than if
they were to erect such houses in a compact separate quarter.
'^ The lots, without the scene which should be first built on,
would cost, afler throwing out the streets and alleys, about five
dollars, and might be moderately estimated, were such a town
erected, at the medium value of ten dollars.
" This town being contemplated as such an auxiliary to Phila-
delphia, as Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, and Sheffield, &c.
are to the seaports of Great Britain, it would be necessary to con-
nect it with the city immediately and effectually by opening a good
road to the Lancaster turnpike, by whatever might be necessary
to give it the benefit of the communication with Philadelphia
286 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
through the Swatara and Tulpohocken canal, through the Bran-
dywine canal, and through the Newport and Wilmington roads,
and by all other means which can be devised. It would also be
proper to connect it with the borough of Reading, Lancaster,
York, Carlisle, <S6C., and with the western and north-western,
northern, and other great roads. Thus circumstanced, with the
supplies of wood fuel, coal, bark, iron, grain, cotton, hemp, flax,
wool, timber, stone, lime, forage, &c., which those roads and the
Susquehannah and its branches, would certainly and permanently
afford, this plan could not fail to become of very great profit to tbe
subscribers or prize-holders, or the state, and to the landed inte-
rest, both tenants and owners. The expense of transportation
from the nearest navigable part of the Susquehannah by way of
Newport, is nine dollars per ton ; from Middletown it is twelve
dollars per ton to sixteen dollars per ton ; and as four-fifths of tbe
state are on or westward of that river, the immense saving that
would be made by a great and stable market like that contem-
plated, is equally manifest and desirable. It may be asked, whe-
ther the owners of the houses, shops, and works, would receive
application from tenants ? The answer is, that they would them-
selves be induced to occupy some of them, that the boroughs in
the vicinity have been greatly extended by the settlement of trades-
men, manu&cturers and others, who depend upon them and upoo
the farmer ; and that unless their inhabitants open canals to the
Susquehannah, or discover coal in their vicinity, those boroughs
which are not on that river cannot grow much larger, though the
demand for manufactures is steadily increasing with our popula-
tion. It is regretted that the latter increase of Lancaster has been
inconsiderable. But the water works, and the works by fire,
which are proposed to be erected, will attract and support trades-
men and the workmen requisite to proceed with the goods thejr
have now begun ; as is constantly the case in Europe.
<* It may be safely affirmed, that no part of the United States at
present half as fully populated as the five counties on the Susque-
hannah, offers so encouraging or so certain a prospect for an in-
land town. It is as it were the bottom of a great bag or sack,
into the upper parts of which natural and agricultural produce
are poured from the northeast, from the north, and from the west
'' It will be observed, that many water works, and objects reqair-
ing the moving power of water, are particularised in the plan.
For which reason, and in order to procure all the public and pri-
vate advantages which are attainable, it is proposed to take some
positioa where the river can be so drawn out of its natural bed.
i
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 287
as to create those mills seats and falls. It is confidently affirmed,
and is not at all doubted, that there are not wanting places of that
great and valuable natural capacity.
'^ Doubts may arise about the expediency of erecting some of the
works. It is therefore observed, that those which are mentioned
are merely offered for consideration. None of them are intended
to be urged : but it is believed that most of them would prove, on
examinaition, eligible.
*' The greater part of the private emolument would be realised, it
is supposed, by the erection of nine hundred dwelling houses of
various sizes (in any of which various kinds of manufactories
could be pursued,) and one hundred shops for such branches as,
by reason of their producing loud noises, or unpleasant smells, or
of their requiring greater room, could not be carried on among
women and children, infirm, aged, or sick persons, or within the
compass of an apartment in a common dwelling-house. In that
case, however, it would be manifestly prudent to bring the unim-
proved mill seats into view, that they might be in the way of early
use and improvement.
'^ The reasons of extending a view to the immediate erection
of those water mills and other works, is, that by their very great
consumption of the raw materials and produce which may be
drawn by purchase from the farmers, they will as early and ma-
terially increase the benefits of the proposed town to the land-
holder and cultivator, without taking any hands from agriculture,
or preventing any from going to it.
" It will be proper to ascertain, with precision and certainty,
what would be a reasonable value of two thousand acres of land,
thus purchased, and thus built upon, that the inducements to the
operation may be duly exhibited.
" The borough of Lancaster will appear to afibrd a means of
comparison not too favourable, when it is remembered, that a posi-
tion on the west side of the Susquehannah would give the pro-
posed town a most extensive and fertile back country for its
supplies by land, free from the expense and risk of any ferry ;
and that it would acquire building materials, provisions, raw
materials, and the infinitely important article, pit coal, the very
important articles timber and bark, in the greatest abundance, and
on the cheapest terms, by means of the navigable waters of the
Susquehannah ; and that its traders and artisans could transport
produce and manufactures to and receive supplies from Phila-
delphia, through the canal of Swatara, without any the least
expense of carting.
288 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
'^ An estimate of a town, consisting of the lands and number of
buildings particularised above, may be reasonably made as follows :
" The actual first cost of all the yarious buildings above men-
tioned, is stated to be $500,000
" From these deduct the value of the four schools and the church,
seven thousand two hundred dollars, which would be public, and
would be of no value to the owners of the town, as such, but as they
might reflect value upon the houses, manufactories, and lots. Also
deduct the sum of five thousand dollars, allowed for the charges of
superintendence. 12,200
'' Remains as the actual cost and real value of all the private baild
ings. 487,800
^' The value of one hundred lots to be given for twenty churches,
and thirty-two for the market, court house, and jail; nothing, but as
they reflect value on the other pmperty in the town. 000^000
*' The value of one thousand and ninety nine lots, of the size of
twenty by one hundred feet, on which the above private buildings
and works are to be erected when they shall be completed, at one
hundred dollars each on a medium. 109,9000
'' The value of two thousand one hundred and ninety eight inter-
val lots, (lying between and among the private and public buildings,
and exclusively of those without that part of the town plot proposed
to be built upon, with the fund of ^ve hundred thousand dollars,) at
eighty dollars each on an average. 175,480
" The value of one hundred and twenty feet lots, making twenty
large lots equal to one hundred feet square, suitable for erecting
twenty other mills, with the requisite share of water right, at ^le
hundred dollars for each mill seat. 10,000
'^ N.B. These will make with the improved mill seats about forty,
and will not require the height of water, or command of a fall to be
kept for more than a quarter of a mile.
^ It is believed much more might be placed against this item.
" The value of the exclusive privilege of keeping fenies, arising
out of the ownership of the grounds, to constitute prizes. 5,000
" The value of twenty two thousand lots, accommodated with
streets and alleys, not within the part built upon as above, with the
wood on them, and on the streets and alleys, for fuel and timber, the
stone, lime, clay, dx. for building, at ten dollars per lot, to constitute
prizes. 220,000
$1,008,540
** The several objects iu the foregoing estimate of one million
eight thousand five hundred and forty dollars, to constitute prizes
to be drawn by the purchasers of five hundred thousand dollars
worth of tickets : a scheme of a lottery more profitable than
most which have been exhibited, and which will moreover yield
MISC£LLANEOU8 DOCUMENTS. 289
great advantages to every proprietor and tenant of lands within
the sphere of trade belonging to the town.
" Although such calculations and estimates as these ought
always to be received with the utmost caution, and to be examined
with strictness, yet there are circumstances, which, it is conceived,
insure success to a well devised and well executed plan in the scene
already mentioned.
" A very great and increasing supply of all those things which
can create, maintain, and extend a town ; which can attract,
cheaply support, and certainly and thoroughly employ, an indus-
trious community, forced by the nature of the river and comitry
into this singular scene — justify an affirmation that no such spot
for a town of inland trade and manufactures of native productions
exists in the populated parts of the United States. To estimate
the value of thp river, and the water works, and their permanent
influence upon the prosperity and growth of such a town, let us
for a moment suppose, that twenty similar mills, twenty unim-
proved mill seats, and a copious canal leading to the Susquehan-
na, were superadded to the present advantages of the borough of
Lancaster.
" It cannot but be perceived, that most of the American inland
towns have been commenced without due attention to the powers
of water, the advantages of interior navigation, and a copious and
certain supply of other fuel, when wood shall become scarce and
dear. The whole number of the houses in the towns of some of
the states is very inconsiderable, which is principally owing to
their produce having passed on, without any natural stoppage or
heavy expense of transportation, from their farms to their export
market ; or to a scarcity of fuel, which has been created, and will
be increased by their growth.
"There will be a peculiar certainty and stability in the value
of property, in such a place as that contemplated, because its trade
and manufactures, depending on our own laws, and upon our
productions, will not be subjected to the injuries and vicissitudes
which often arise from foreign restrictions and prohibitions, and
from the defalcations of the imports of foreign, precarious and
tropical productions. On the other hand, every new discovery of
a mineral or fossil, every addition to the articles of cultivation in
the great landed scene, on which it will depend, whether for food
or manufactures, will yield fresh nourishment and employment to
its inhabitants.
" In addition to the reasons already suggested for placing the
town upon the western side of the Susquehanna, it ought to be
37
290 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
added, with a view to ihe present and all other plans of establish-
ing towns, in this climate, that thi; eastern and northern sides of
all waters in the United States {the elevation, dryness of the soil,
and other things being equal) are leas healthy than the soiitbem
and western sides. As it further regards that great concern, the
health and comfort of the citizens, it also merits repetition, that by
the plan proposed, no inadvertent or uninformed man will be able
to build his house or place of business in such a manner i
deprive himself of the blessing of the summer winds.
" Although great stress has been laid upon a particular scene in ]
the course of this paper, from a thorough conviction of its fitness i
and value, it is manifest, that many of the ideas will apply to such
of the existing towns in the slate of Pennsylvania and elsewhere,
as have a capacity to command, by due exertion, and at a mode-
tats expense, water falls, coal or inland navi^tion. A diligent
examiDation of their respective capacities, in those particulars,
ought, upon the general principles suggested, to be made.* It i
also clear, that a very large part of those advantages may be gained \
at Harrisburg, Middletown, the falls of the Delaware, at the lower ,
end of the Schuylkill canal, and most of the other canals in the
United States, by such a power of waier as has been mentioned
above. In the states of Vermont and Kentucky, in the western
parts of Pennsylvania and New York, in the nortliweslem end J
southern governments, and in general, at those places o
ernmosi, or neai'est parts of all the western waters, and the soutii
ern, or nearest parts of all the northern waters, where the internal
navigation terminates, the whole of the above plan, in a maturer
state of their population, will apply, with the mo.st solid i
extensive benefits, to the cultivators and proprietors of the sotL
■ T. Coj:c,. Esq.
Dear sir, — I mentioned one or two things yeslcrdny, which v
One was the papers for ihe enquiry. You will see by ilie enclosed, I
th«y are to go lo Ihn house of reprcgenlalives. Will you be so good ai
bave a letter prepared ihis laoxams^. \ stay at jionie to-day, lo look C
petitions. Lei ihe warraols, &c., be sent me. Yuurs, affeclioanlely.
A. HAUii.TOit. ,
tThe grounds around the lowei falls of many of the rircrs emptying ii
the Atlantic Ocean, are also very suitable for such a plan, because pton
sions, wood, coal, and raw materials may be iransporled lo them c
Bjid from foreign ct
I
t
i|
I
I
and W
lUtift^l
ftL
lfISCEl»LANEOV8 DOCUMENTS. 291
ReJUcHons on ike affairs of the United States^ occasioned by the pre-
sent war in Europe. ( Recommended to the particular attention of
the Owners of Coal and Water falls in the Western country.)*
" It is highly prudent in every nation, seriously to consider the
effects which great events in other countries may have produced
on their affairs, and to anticipate, in time, -the consequences in
regard to their interests, to which such events may possibly give
♦ Tench Coxe^ Esq,
New York, January 7, 1792.
Dear sir, — I lately received, and read with pleasure and profit, the enlarged
copy of the examination of Lord SheflGield's publications: and yesterday I
was favoured with your letter, enclosing Secretary Hamilton's interesting
and able report on the subject of manufactures, for both of which accept my
thanks.
No better way can, in my opinion, be devised, for negotiating treaties of
commerce, than that of augmenting the national respectability, and exhibit-
ing successive and unequivocal proofs of the resources and union of the
states, and of the stability and wisdom and energy of the national govern-
ment.
With sentiments of esteem and regard, I have the honour to be, dear sir,
your most obedient humble servant,
John Jay.
Tench Coxe, Esq., Philadelphia.
Lo2fDON, December 18, 1794.
' Dear sir, — Accept my thanks for your obliging letter of the 8th of last
month, and for the book which accompanied it. As yet, I have not had
time and leisure to give it that regular and attentive perusal which it appears
to merit. It certainly contains much useful information; and from your
accuracy, I presume that the facts and statements in it are correct. It will
naturally lead both our own people and foreigners to form a favourable and
just estimate of the United States, and show, in a strong light, the policy of
maintaining that respect for our government and laws, without which, our
local and other advantages can neither be enjoyed nor improved.
The manner in which the insurrection has been dissipated, gives me
pleasure ; and there is reason to hope, that the arts and counsels which pro-
duced it, will not be able to operate such another. Our affairs, relative to
this country, have a promising aspect : the best disposition towards us pre>
vails here, and indications and proofs of it daily increase. I do really
believe that this government mean to give conciliatory measures with the
United States a full and fair trial. It never can be wise to cast ourselves
into the arms and influence of any nation ; but certainly it is wise and proper
to cherish the good will of those who wish to be on terms of friendship and
cordiality with us. It may seem strange, and yet I am convinced that, next
to the king, our president is more popular, in this country, than any man
in it.
With the best wishes, and with sentiments of esteem and regard, I am
dear sir, your most obedient servant, John Jay.
392 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
rise. The enhancement of the cost of our manufactured supplies,
by the demand for the immense armaments, by land and sea, now-
making in Europe, and the impediments to the cheap transporta-
tion of our produce by the recent deduction of a large proportion
of the vessels which lately carried them at peace freights, with the
impossibility of building, in time, a sufficient number of ships to
perform the service, and to supply the purchases, by foreign
nations, render it a matter of most comfortable reflection that we
have made such frequent and full examinations of our capacities
in the business of manufactures, and that we have made so great
progress in the establishment of many of the most useful and
necessary branches. There seems nothing to warrant a belief,
that we shall cease to pursue our course in peace. But it is mani-
fest that, even in that desirable situation, the inducements to
pursue manufactures are not a little increased by the advanced
cost of our supplies, and the diminution of our carriers at peace
freights, already mentioned. It will be wise, then, to devise more
methods of increasing our manufactures, in order to cheapen and
multiply supplies, and to extend the home market for our agricul-
tural productions. It is, moreover, well worthy of remark, that
in consequence of the war in Europe, many articles of great im-
portance, in the building of houses, improving new plantations,
and supplying the settled country, and the industrious poor, are
said to be prohibited to be exported from Great Britain, because
they can be applied to military purposes, or may be wanted for
themselves. However reasonable or customary, in similar circum-
stances, this may be, our citizens must actually be subjected thereby
to great additional expense, and the charges of improving and cul-
tivating real estates of every description, must be considerably
increased. Manufacturers of these prohibited kinds of goods, are
therefore rendered indispensable, by the situation of that country
which is the principal foreign source of our supplies.
"However improbable or impossible war may appear, in the
judgment of many, or most of us, it can do no injury to remark,
that the cost of our supplies would be so excessively increased, by
that worst of all possible events, and the vessels to carry our pro-
duce at peace freights, would be so extremely diminished, if our
own should be involved, that nothing but such great and vigorous
efforts as that suggested for consideration, could save our cultiva-
tors from a very inconvenient expense, in procuring supplies, and
tlie most distressing reduction of the market prices of many articles
of their produce.
^^ It will be iierceiveil that the plan is laid upon a scale which
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 293
is not likely, at this time, to be carried into execution in any one
place. It is necessary, therefore, to remark, that it is not intended
in any view, but to exemplify what might be done with a given
capital. Tlie owners, however, of certain great water situations
might, 9afely and advantageously, lay out their circumjacent
grounds in a town plot, with such views, and they might sell or
let, on ground rents, such ordinary building lots, or such situations
for water works, as purchasers or tenants might apply for, leaving
the plan to mature by time and the natural attractions and advan-
tages of the several scenes ; or improvements might be commenced
upon a scale of 5,000, 10,000, 15,000, or 20,000 dollars, as capital
might be obtainable, and prudence might appear to justify. In all
events, it is conceived, that a profitable attention to our situation
may be promoted, and possibly some reflections, favourable to the
Umted States, and to the proprietors of particular estates, and
many vicinities, may be suggested, by the publication of the plan
at the present very interesting crisis.'-* — Federal Gazette.
* TVftcA Coxe, Esq., Lancaster.
Washington, February 11, 1801.
Dear air, — Your favour, of January 25th, came to hand some days ago,
and yesterday a gentleman put into my hand, at the door of the senate cham-
ber, the volume of the American Museum for 1798. As no letter accompa-
nied it, I took it for granted it was to biing under my eye some of its contents.
I have gone over it with satisfaction. This is the morning of the election
by the house of representatives. For some time past, a single individual
had declared he would, by his vote, make up the ninth state. On Saturday
last be changed, and it stands at present, eight one way, six the other, and
two divided. Which of the two will be elected, and whether either, I deem
perfectly problematical : and my mind has long been equally made up for
either of the three events. If I can find out the person who bt ought me the
volume from you, I shall return it by him, because I presume it makes one
of a set. If not by him, I will find some other person who may carry it to
Philadelphia if not to Lancaster. Very possibly it may go by a different
conveyance from this letter. Very probably you will learn, before the
receipt of either, the result, or the progress at least, of the election. We
see already, at the threshold, that if it falls on me, I shall be embarrassed,
by finding the offices vacant, which cannot be even temporarily filled, but
with the advice of the senate ; and that body is called on the 4th of March,
when it is impossible for the new members of Kentucky, Greorgia, and South
Carolina, to receive notice in time to be here.
The summons for Kentucky, dated, as all were, January 31st, could not
go hence till the 5th, and that for Georgia did not go till the 6ih. If the
difficulties of the election are got over, there are more and more behind.
Until new elections shall have regenerated the constituted authorities, the
defects of our constitution, under circumstances like the present, appear
very great. Accept assurances of the esteem and respect, dear sir, of your
most obedient servant, Th: Jefferson.
294 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. — In the House of Represeniativet.
Oct. 25, 17S6.
Ordered, that Mr. Clarke and Mr. Bowdoin with such as the honourable
senate may join, be a committee to view any new invented machines that
are making within this commonwealth for the purpose of manufacturing
sheep's and cotton wool, and report what measures are proper for the legisla-
ture to take to encourage the same.
Sent up for concurrence,
Artemas Ward, Speaker^
In Senate, Oct, 25, 1786. — Read and concurred, and Richard Cranch, Esq.
is joined.
Samuel Phillips, Jun. President.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Nov. 1786.
The committee of both houses appointed to view any new invented ma-
chines that are making within this commonwealth for the purpose of manu-
facturing cotton and sheep's wool, have attended that service, and examined
three very curious and useful machines, made by Robert and Alexander
Barr, for the purpose of carding and spinning of cotton, and ask leave to
report the following resolve, which is submitted.
Richard Cranch, per order.
Resolved, that there be granted and paid out of the public treasury of this
commonwealth, to the said Robert and Alexander Barr, the sum of two
hundred pounds, to enable them to complete the said three machines and
also a roping machine, and to construct such other machines (connected
with those already exhibited) as are necessary for the purpose of carding,
roping, and spinning of sheep's wool, as well as of cotton wool ; they to be
accountable for the expenditure of the same, and to lay their accounts of the
whole expense of those several machines before the general court for allow-
ance. And it is also
Resolved, that all those machines before-mentioned, when finished, shall
be delivered by the said Robert and Alexander Barr to a committee of the
general court to be hereafter appointed ; to be disposed of as the legislature
shall think meet, for the purpose of promoting, extending, and encouraging
the manufacture of woollens and cottons within this commonwealth. And
it is further
Resolved, that a gratuity, such as the general court may hereafter
agree upon (when a full trial shall have been made of the utility and public
advantage of those machines) shall be given to the said Robert and Alex-
ander Barr, as a reward of their ingenuity, and as an inducement to other
ingepious artists and manufacturers to bring their arts also into this com-
monwealth.
In Senale, Nor. 16, 1736. — Read and accepted. Sent down for concur-
rence. Samuel Phillips, Jun. President.
In the House of Representatives, Nov. 16. 1787 — Read and concurred.
Artemas Ward, Speaker.
Approved — James Bowdoin.
MI8C£LLAN£0US DOCUMENTS. 296
The committee of both houses appointed to examine the machines for
carding, roping, and spinning cotton and sheep's ^ool, lately made at
Bridgewater, under the patronage of the general court, by Robert and Alex-
ander Barr, have attended that service, and on the most critical examination
of those machines, your committee find them to be constructed on such true
mechanical principles, and executed with such accuracy, as reflects honour
on the genius and ability of those young artists; and that in the opinion of
your committee they are well adapted to promote several very valuable
branches of manufacture within this commonwealth, and therefore ask leave
to report the following resolves, which are submitted.
RicuARD Cramch, per order.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Whereas by a resolve of the general court passed the 16th of November,
1786, the sum of two hundred pounds was directed to be paid out of the
public treasury of this commonwealth to Robert and Alexander Barr, to
enable them to complete certain machines for carding, roping, and spinning
cotton and sheep's wool.
And whereas the said Robert and Alexander Barr have exhibited to this
court an account of the expenditure of one hundred and eighty-nine pounds
and twelve shillings of the sum aforesaid, which account appears to be just
and reasonable. And whereas by the resolve of the general court passed
the 16th of November aforesaid, it is further resolved, ^^ That a gratuity,
such as the general court may hereafter agree upon, (when a full trial shall
have been made of the utility and public advantage of these machines) shall
be given to the said Robert and Alexander Barr as a reward of their inge-
nuity, and as an inducement to other ingenious artists and manufacturers to
bring their arts also into this commonwealth," therefore resolved that the
said Robert and Alexander Barr be and they hereby are discharged from
the whole of the said sum of two hundred pounds granted as aforesaid, and
also that six tickets in the land lottery established by an act passed the
14th of November, A. D. 1786, be given by this commonwealth to the said
Robert and Alexander Barr, '^as a reward for their ingenuity in forming those
machines, and for their public spirit in making them known to this common-
wealth." And the managers of the said lottery are hereby directed to deliver
to the said Robert and Alexander Barr six lottery tickets accordingly, taking
duplicate receipts for the same, one of which to be lodged io the secretary's
office. And it is further resolved, that the said machines be left under the
care of the Hon. Hugh Orr, Esq. until the further order of the general court,
and that public notice be given for three weeks successively in Adams and
Nourse's newspaper, that the said machines may be seen and examined at
the house of the Hon. Hugh Orr, Esq. in Bridgewater, and that the manner
of working them will be there explained to those who may wish to be more
particularly informed of their great use and advantage in carrying on the
woollen and cotton manufactures. And the said Hon. Hugh Orr, Esq. is
hereby requested to explain to such citizens as may apply for the same, the
principles on which the said machines are constructed, and the advantages
arising from their use, both by verbal explanations, and by letting them see
the machines at work. And it is further resolved, that the said Hon; Hugh
Orr, Esq. be, and he hereby is, permitted and allowed to make use of the
296 MEMOIR OP SAMUEL SLATER.
said machines during the whole time of his having the care of them, as
aforesaid, as some recompense for his own time and trouble in showing
them and explaining their use to the citizens of the commonwealth at
large.
In Senate, May 2d, 1787.— Read and accepted. Sent down for concur-
rence. Samuel Phillips, Jon. President.
In the House of Representatives^ May 2d, 1787.— Read and concurred.
Artemas Ward, Speaker.
Approved — ^James Bowdoin.
Commonwealth op Massachusetts. — In Senate, March 8, 1787.
Resolved that Richard Cranch, Esq., with such as the honourable house
shall join, be a committee to examine the machines now making at Bridge-
water by Robert and Alexander Barr, under the patronage of the general
court, for the purpose of carding and spinning cotton and sheep's wool, which
machines are now nearly completed. And the said committee are hereby
empowered and directed, as soon as may be, to examine the accounts of the
said Robert and Alexander Barr, respecting the expense they have been at
in making those machines, and to allow the same, or so much thereof as to
them shall appear reasonable ; and also to report to the next general court
what gratuity, in their opinion, the said Robert and Alexander justly
deserve, as a reward for their ingenuity in forming those machines, and as
an encouragement for their public spirit in making them known to this com-
monwealth.
And the said committee are further directed to report their opinion, in
what manner those machines may be disposed of, so as to make them most
universally known, and generally useful to this commonwealth.
Sent down for concurrence,
Samuel Phillips, Jr.
In the Hotise of Representatives, March S, 1787. — Read and concurred,
and Mr. Clarke and Mr. Howard are joined.
Artemas Ward, Speaker.
Approved — James Bowdoin.
CommonweaUh of Massachusetts to Robert and Alexander Barr, Dr.
To sundry materials, dtc. for making and completing the several machines
for the purpose of carding, roping, and spinning cotton and sheep's wool,
viz:— £. s.
To leather, 2 00
To card teeth, 3 19
To cash paid Ezekiel Reed, for altering his machine, and
pricking the leaves, and setting the card teeth, . 9
To 361b. of brass at lOd. per lb 1 10
To card tacks, 4m 5
To cash paid for files, crucibles, &c 4
To 8 months labour of two men, each at £6 10 per mo. 104
To 8 months board of do. at 9s. per week, .... 28 16
To wood for fuel, 14
Cairied forward, £154 4
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 297
£. 8.
Brotight forward^ £154 4
To 261 dijOTerent pieces of iroa work 36 12
To coals for melting brass, and timber for the machines, 1
To expenses in transporting the machines to and from
Boston 1 4
£187
To cash paid for passages and expenses on the road to
Bridgewater, omitted in the above account. . . 2 12
£189 12
Robert Barr.
Alexander Barr.
To the Honourable Senate and House of Re/presentaiives of ike common-
wealth of Masstichusetts, in general court assembled. The petition of
Thomas Somers humbly showeth^
That in the fall of the year 1785, the tradesmen and manufacturers of
Baltimore in Maryland, having formed themselves into an association, in
order to apply to the legislature in behalf of American manufactures, being
stimulated thereto by a circular letter received from a committee of the
tradesmen and manufacturers of the town of Boston. Your'petitioner then,
residing in Baltimore, (having been formerly brought up to the cotton manu-
factory, and willing to contribute what lay in his power to introduce said
manufacture in America,) did, at his own risk and expense, go to England,
in order to prepare the machines for carding and spinning cotton. That
aAer much difficulty, your petitioner found that he could only take descrip-
tions and models of said eiigines ; with which he returned to Baltimore last
summer. Soon after his arrival he found that they were very dilatory about
encouraging the matter, and with the advice of some friends he resolved to
try what might be done in Boston. That on his way to Boston, the sloop
was driven ashore by the late storms, on Cape Cod, by which misfortune
your petitioner lost almost one half of the small property he had to subsist
on until he could get into business. Your petitioner therefore humbly prays
for such assistance to begin the manufactory as shall seem most agreeable
to yotur honours, and as in duty bound shall ever pray, dbc.
Thomas Somers.
N.B. Your petitioner is perfect master of the weaving in the speediest
manner, and of adapting to advantage the different kinds of yarn for mar-
seilles quilting, dimity, muslins plain, striped or checked, calico, cotton and
linen jeans, jeannettes, handkerchiefs, checks, drabs, and many other kinds
in that line, and understands the management of cotton, and how the
spinning should be performed. T. S.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. — In the House of Representatives^
March 2, 1787.
On the petition of Thomas Somers, setting forth his being possessed of
certain descriptions and models of machines, for the facilitating labour in
the carding, roping, and spinning of cotton wool ; and also, his knowledge
of adapting the thread for, and of weaving dimities, plain, striped and
38
298 MEMOIR OF SAMtTEL SLATEIt.
checked muslins, calicoes, jeans, jeannettes, and other cotton manufactures ;
and praying that he tnay receive some encouragement for the establishing
the cotton manufacture within this commonwealth :
With a view to encourage the aforesaid manufacture, and to give the said
Somers an opportunity to gi?e specimens of his abilities to perfect the
manufactures set forth in his said petition, Besolved, That there be paid
out of the public treasury, by warrant from the governor and council, twenty
pounds lawful money to be applied to the purposes aforesaid, which sum
shall be deposited in the hands of Hugh Orr, Esq. of Bridgewater, who shall
be a committee to superintend the application of the same.
Sent up for concurrence,
Artbmas Ward, Speaker.
In Senate, March 8, 1787. — Read and concurred,
Samuel Pmcups, Jr. President.
Approved — James Bowdoin.
It has been observed that Mr. Slater introduced stocking yam
and sewing thread. It is not easy to estimate the value of these
articles to this country in 1790 ; the following remarks will show
that these yarns required superior skill and experiment.
Stockings are made of only one thread, entwined so as to form a
species of tissue, extremely elastic, and readily adapting itself to
the part it is employed to cover. The tissue cannot be called
cloth, for it has neither warp nor woof, but approaches it closely,
and for the purposes to which it is applied, is much superior. It
is well known that the ancient Romans had no particular cover-
ing for the legs ; but during the middle ages, hose or leggings
made of cloth came into use ; and at a later period, the art of
knitting stockuigs was invented. Very different accounts are
given of the time and country of this important invention, some
attributing it to the Scots, and others deriving it from Spain.
Woven stockings are manufactured by the machine called stock-
ing-frame, which is exceedingly ingenious, but too complex to be
described without plates. It was invented by William Lee, of
Nottinghamsliire, England, in 1589. He met with little encou-
ragement in his attempts to set up an establishment in England,
but was invited into France by Henry IV. and received with great
favour. Henry's assassination, soon after, interrupted his pros-
pects, and he died in Paris in great poverty. A knowledge of his
machine was carried back to England by some of his workmen,
who established themselves in Nottinghamshire, which has since
continued to be the principal seat of the manufacture. For neaf
two hundred years, few improvements were made on Lee's inven-
tion; and two men were usually employed on one frame ; but it
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 299
has been much improved, and adapted also to the manufiBUSture of
r^bed stockings.
The yarn for the stocking-frame is required to be particularly
smooth and equal, and it is therefore spun in a manner different
from other yam, two roves being united to form the thread ; on
this account it is called double-spun twist.
The making of sewing-thread, by firmly twisting together two
three, or more threads of cotton yam by machinery, is a consider-
able branch of business, carried on both at Manchester and in
Scotland, and in which Mr. David Ifolt, of the former place, has
made great improvements. The beauty of this article, and its
remarkable utility and cheapness, are universally known, as it is
used in every house, and in the making of almost every kind of
clothing. Several shops in the principal streets of London sell
this article only. It is also extensively exported ; the quantity
sent abroad in 1833, was l,187,6011b8. Cotton hosiery is chiefly
made throughout the counties of Nottingham and Derby, at
Hinckley, and at Tewkesbury. The number of persons employed
in the cotton branch of the hosiery trade, will probably amount to
nearly 40,000, in Great Britain.
The following notices of Brindley and Crompton are too inte-
resting to be omitted in this work.
James Brindley, a native of Tunsted, near Wormhill, Derby-
shire, an eminent engineer and mechanic, was bora in 1716. The
poverty of his family prevented his receiving more than the mdi-
ments of education, and at seventeen he became apprentice to a
millwright On the expiration of his indenture he commenced
business as an engineer, and, in 1752, displayed great talent in
contriving a water engine for draining a coal mine. A mill, which
he constructed on a new plan, and other works of the same
description, introduced him to the patronage of the Duke of
Bridgewater, then occupied in planning a communication between
his estate at Worsley and the towns of Manchester and Liverpool,
by water. This immense work, the idea of which was ridiculed
by most of the scientific men of the period as impracticable,
Brindley undertook, and by means of an aqueduct over valleys,
rivers, ice, completed so as to form a junction with the Mersey.
This success caused him to be employed in 1766, to unite the
Trent and Mersey, upon ^hich he commenced the "grand tmnk
navigation canal,'' but dying before its completion, the work was
finished in 1777 by his brother-in-law, Mr. Henshaw. From this
main branch Brindley also cut another canal near Haywood in
Staffordshire, uniting it with the Severn in the vicinity of Bewdley,
300 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER*
and finished it in 1772. From this period scarcely any work
of the kind in the kingdom was entered upon without his superin-
tendence or advice. Among other designs, he prepared one for
draining the fens in Lincolnshire and the Isle of Ely, and another
for clearing the Liverpool docks of mud, which was especially
successful. The variety of his inventions, and the fertility of his
resources, were only equaled by the simplicity of the means with
which he carried his expedients into efiect. He seldom used
any model or drawing, but when any material difficulty inter-
vened, generally retired to bed, and there meditated on the best
mode of overcoming it. On such occasions, he has been known
to seclude himself for days ; and so partial was he to inland navi-
gation, that he is said, to a question humorously put to him on
his examination before the house of commons, '^ For what purpose
did he consider rivers to have been created,'' at once to haye
replied, " Undoubtedly to feed navigable can^." The intensity
of his application to business brought on a hectic fever of which
he died in 1772.
CaoMPTON. — The " short and simple annals" of the lite of this
worthy man, — so much resembling the history of many other sons
of genius, — are thus recorded by Mr. Kennedy, in his " brief
memoir" : —
<< About the year 1802, Mr. G. A. Lee and myself set on foot a
subscription for Mr. Crompton, which amounted to about £500 ;
and with this he was enabled to increase his little manufacturing
establishment, in Bolton, namely, of spinning and weaving. He
was prevailed upon also, to sit to a London artist, for his portrait,
which is now in my possession. He was left a widower when
his children were very young, and his only daughter kept his
little cottage, in King street, Bolton, where he died, and where she
lived in 1829. Being a weaver, he erected several looms for the
fancy work of that town, in which he displayed great ingenuity.
Though his means were but small, his economy in living made
him always in easy circumstances. In 1812, he made a survey
of all the cotton districts in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and
obtained an estimate of the number of spindles then at work upon
his principle, which amounted to between four and five millions ;
in 1829 about seven millions. On his return, he laid the result of
his enquiries before Mr. Lee and myself, with a suggestion, that
parlianient might grant him something. With these data before
him, Mr. Lee, who was a warm friend to genius of every kind,
with his usual energy entered fully into his merits, and made an
appointment with the late George Duckworth, Esq. of Manchester,
MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS. 301
who also took a lively interest in the scheme, and gratuitously
offered to draw up a memorial to parliament in behalf of Mr.
Crompton. This was signed by most of the principal manufac-
turers in the kingdom who were acquainted with his merits. He
went to London himself with the memorial, and obtained an
interview with one of the members for the county of Lancaster.
He remained there during the session, and was in the house on the
evening that Mr. Perceval was shot, and witnessed the catastrophe.
A short time before this disastrous occurrence, Mr. Perceval had
given him a promise to interest himself in his behalf ; and, in
accordance with this assurance, had brought in a bill, which was
passed, for a grant of £6000, in full, without fees or charges.
Mr. Crompton was now anxious to place his sons in some busi-
ness, and fixed upon that of bleaching : but the unfavourable state
of the times, the inexperience and mismanagement of his sons, a
bad situation, and a misunderstanding with his landlord, which
occasioned a tedious law-suit, conspired in a very short time to
put an end to this establishment. His sons then dispersed, and he
and his daughter were reduced to poverty. Messrs. Hicks and
Rothwell, of Bolton, myself and some others, in that neighbour-
hood and in Manchester, had, in 1824, recourse to a second sub-
scription, to pnrchase a life annuity for him, which produced £63
per annum. The amount raised for this purpose was collected
in small sums, from one to ten pounds ; some of which were con-
tributed by the Swiss and French spinners, who acknowledged
his merits, and pitied his misfortunes. At the same time his por-
trait was engraved for his benefit, and a few impressions were
disposed of: he enjoyed this small annuity only two years. He
died January 26th, 1827, leaving his daughter, his affectionate
housekeeper, in poverty."
Mill Ponds and Reservoirs. — A large mill pond is very advan-
tageous on small rivers, the natural currents of which are not
sufficiently abundant at all seasons to furnish the requisite supply
of water. It serves as a reservoir, to collect and retain the water
which flows into it during the night, for use the subsequent day ;
in effect, as before observed, doubling the power of the stream.
Each acre of a mill pond, one foot in depth, contains 43,660 cubic
feet of water, weighing 62i lbs. to the foot = 2,722,500 lbs. of
water ; which, with a fall of ten feet, give available force equal to
567 horse power. If the water were all applied in the course of one
minute to the water wheels, or 667 -r- 720, the number of minutes
in a day of 12 hours, gives .787 or very nearly three fourths of a
horse power for each acre of water one foot deep, used with a fall
302 MEMOIR OP SAMUEL SLATER.
of ten feet, for one day. With this fiill, a mill pond containing
20 acres, and susceptible of retaining a quantity of water of the
same extent, and one foot in depth, will give to the proprietor of
the mill a command of a 15 horse power, tor one day, independent
of the ordinary supply of the stream. The depth of pond will
not compensate for a deficiency in extent of sur&ce ; because, in
proportion as the surface of the water subsides, or is drawn down,
the height of the &I1, and consequently the power, is diminished
in an equal ratio. On this account reservoirs, constructed en-
tirely above the level of the mill pond, are peculiarly serviceable ;
a small extent of ground, covered to a considerable depth with
water, being thus rendered equal to a great extent of ground
covered with a shallow sheet of water. Where large natural
ponds or swamps can be converted into reservoirs, for retaining
the flood waters of winter, for use during the droughts of summer,
the water power of small streams may be surprisingly augmented.
During nine or ten months of the year, inconsiderable brooks
jrield sufficient water for important hydraulic operations. If, thra,
by means of artificial reservoirs, the deficiency in the supply of
water, during the two or three months of summer, can be obviated,
and the winter torrents be made to swell the current of the sum-
mer brook, the stream at once becomes as important and effective
as one much larger without these artificial resources. The ex-
pense of constructing a reservoir may be rendered comparatively
light should all the proprietors of the mill seats benefited by it
unite to defray them. Even the amount of the very costs of liti-
gation in some cases, relating to water privileges, would be suffi-
cient, if judiciously expended in this way, to place at the control
of both parties a greater additional water power than that for
which they may be contending.
In the town of Providence, which has been termed the Man-
chester of America, from having been the centre of the most
extensive manufacturing operations, there was, in 1826, only one
cotton mill of less than a thousand spindles, whilst several hundred
thousand were in operation on the mill streams in the country
adjacent. A cotton mill, intended for operating seven or eight
thousand mule spindles, with the preparation and looms, was
erected in 1827, as an experiment of the practicability of employ-
ing steam power. Anthracite coal, firom the Schuylkill, is success-
fully used in the furnace of the steam engine of this cotton mill.
Mr. Slater was concerned in the above experiment, and has owned
the whole of it since 1829. At present, it produces yarn No. 80,
MISCBLLANEOVS DOCUMENTS. 303
and the cloth is said to be the finest and best in the country. It
has more than answered the expectations of the proprietor.
Zee. Allen says: — ''By an experiment made with a large high
pressure steam engine, in Rhode Island, it appeared that when the
throttle valve was thrown open, and the machinery of the mill
disconnected with the engine, it required 26 lbs. to the inch on the
safety valve, to cause the steam engine to make its regular number
of working strokes, and to maintain its proper speed. Without
having its friction at all increased by being loaded, it thus required
about 17 horse power, equal to one third of the whole estimated
power of this engine, to move the beam, piston and fly wheel."
Calculating Machine. — Of all the machines which have been
constructed in modern times, the calculating machine is doubtless
the most extraordinary. Pieces of mechanism, for performing par-*
ticular arithmetical operations, have been long ago constructed ^
but these bear no comparison, either in ingenuity or in magnitude^
to the grand design conceived and executed by Mr. Babbage, foi*
the British government.
Great as the power of mechanism is known to be, yet few will
scarcely admit it to be possible, that astronomical and navigation ta^
bles can be accurately computed by machinery ; that the machine
can itself correct the errors which it may commit ; and that the re-
sults of its calculations, when absolutely free from error, can be
printed olSf without the aid of human hands, or the operation of
human intelligence. All this, however, Mr. Babbage's machine can
do. The calculating machine, constructed under the superintend-
ence of the inventor, has been executed at the expense of the British
government, and is, of course, their property. It consists, essentially,
of two parts, — a calculating part and a printing part ; both of which
are necessary to the fulfilment of Mr. Babbage's views : for the
whole advantage would be lost if the computations made by the
machine were copied by human hands, and transferred to types
by the common process. The calculating machinery exhibits
workmanship of such extraordinaVy skill and beauty, that nothing
approaching to it has been witnessed. In order to execute it,
particularly those parts of the apparatus which are dissimilar to
any used in ordinary mechanical constructions, tools and machi-
nery of great expense and complexity have been invented and
constructed; and, in many instances, contrivances of singular
ingenuity have been resorted to, which cannot fail to prove exten-
sively useful in various branches of the mechanical arts. The
drawings of this machinery, which form a large part of the work,
and on which all the contrivance has been bestowed, and all the
304 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
alterations made, cover upwards of 400 square feet of surface, and
are executed with extraordinary care and precision. In so com-
plex a piece of mechanism, in which interrupted motions are
propagated, simultaneously, along a great variety of trains of
mechanism, it might have been supposed that obstructions would
arise, or even incompatibilities occur, from the impracticability of
foreseeing all the possible combinations of the parts ; but this doubt
has been entirely removed by the constant employment of a sys-
tem of mechanical notation, invented by Mr. Babbage, which places
distinctly in view, at every instant, the progress of motion tlirougfa
all the parts of this or any other machine ; and, by writing down
in tables the times required for all the movements,^ this method
renders it easy to avoid all risk of two opposite actions arriving at
the same instant, at any part of the engine. In the printing part
of the machine; less progress has been made in the actual execu-
tion, than in the calculating part. The cause of this is the greater
difficulty of its contrivance, not for transferring the computations
from the calculating part to the copper or other plate, destined to
receive it, but for giving to the plate itself that number and variey
of movements which the forms adopted in printed tables may call
for in practice.
The practical object of the calculating engine is to compute and
print a great variety and extent of astronomical and navigation
tables, which could not be done without enormous intellectual and
manual labour ; and which, even if executed by such labour,
could not be calculated with the requisite accuracy. Mathemati-
cians, astronomers, and navigators, do not require to be informed
of the real value of such tables ; but it may be proper to state, for
the information of others, that seventeen large folio volumes of
logarithmic tables alone were calculated, at an enormous expense,
by the French government, and that the British government re-
garded these tables to be of such national value, that they proposed
to the French board of longitude to print an abridgment of them,
at the joint expense of the two nations, and offered to advance
£5000 for that purpose. Besides logarithmic tables, Mr. Babbage's
machine will calculate tables of the powers and products of num-
bers, and all astronomical tables for determining the positions of
the sun, moon, and planets ; and the same mechanical principles
have enabled him to integrate innumerable equations of finite
diflFerences ; that is, when the equation of differences is given, he
can, by setting an engine, produce, at the end of a given time, any
distant term which may be required.
8PIN1IINO AND WEAVING MACHINERY. 306
CHAPTER VIII.
EXTRACTS FROM THE SPINNING MASTER'S ASSISTANT.
** To complete the wonder, thii manufkctnre ii the creation of the genini of a few
hnmhle mechanics ; it has sprung up from insignificance to its present magnitude
within little more than half a century ; and it is still advancing with a rapidity of
increase that defies nil calculation of what it shall l»e in fiiture ages.**— Aititet.
Previous to the above work, published in Glasgow, 1832,
nothing ever appeared in Europe on the art of cotton spinning,
fitted to assist the master, manager, or artisan, in acquiring a cor-
rect and systematic knowledge of the real principles of the busi-
ness. So that the manager of a cotton spinning factory could only
acquire a proper knowledge of his business by long experience
and application in the practical department of the manufacture,
aad it depended upon the situation in which he was placed, and
the advantages he enjoyed, if he ever obtained that correct know-
ledge of all its details which is essentially necessary to render him
fully qualified for managing a large establishment with satisfac-
tion or profit to the proprietors.
It is only when theory and practice are combined, that efficiency
can be attained in effiscting improvements.
In all factories where there is a variety of machinery employed
in the manufacturing of any particular kind of goods, it ium
always been found that the manner in which the machinery i^
placed, together with the arrangement of the different departa)<9at9
has a very prominent influence in either retarding or accelerating
Ihe progress of the work. But in no place is this influence more
Wensibly observed than in a cotton spinning factory. It is obvious,
bawever, that the manner in which the machinery is placed, and
ithe arrangement of all its difierent departments, will entirely
depend upon the plan of the house, or the form in which it is
built ; hence the propriety and advantage of having a mill built on
such a plan, or form, as to admit of having all the machinery
|>laced, and the various departments arranged, in the manner best
adapted for facilitating the progress of the work as a whole.
The situation of the ground, or space upon which the mill is
to be erected, must always be taken into consideration in laying
39
306 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
down the plan or fixing upon the particular form in which the
house is to be built ; and in some cases this plan must just be
made to suit the situation or place in which it must stand. But
when the situation and extent of the premises are such as to afford
ample scope for the proprietors to build their mill on any plan or
form which they may think proper ; in these circumstances, the
house maybebuilt in a form that will admit of having the machinery
and the various departments and oflices of the establishment,
arranged in such a manner as to afford the greatest facility for
accelerating the progress of the work in all the different stages or
departments. They ought to be so situated as to prevent all unne-
cessary going to and from any of the different departments of the
work, by the workers employed about the establishment. All the
different offices, such as ware-room, picking-room, mechanic's
shop, &c. ought to be contained within the walls of the mill, if
possible, because there is always a continued communication with
these different offices.
A good ground plan of a cotton-mill, is 145 feet long, and 37
feet wide within the walls ; with a wing attached to one end, 64
feet by twenty. A house of these dimensions would cover a space
of about 7461 square feet, besides the stair-case and water-closets.
A house 37 feet wide affords ample space for machines of 300
spindles each. A wing attaches to the body of the building, the
various departments of which should be occupied for all the differ-
ent offices, or separate apartments necessarily required about a
cotton spinning factory. The body of the mill is supposed to be
145 feet long and 37 feet wide within the walls ; and supposing it
to be six stories high, a house of these dimensions would be capa-
ble of containing 23,000 spindles, with all the necessary prepara-
tion for average numbers. If steam was needed it would require
an engine of between 40 and 50 horses' power to drive a mill of
this extent. Every spinning factory ought to have a little more
power than is merely necessary to drive it, because the weight of
the machinery will often vary with the weather, the quality of
the oil used, <fcc.; consequently, when there is barely a sufficiency
of power, the engine will frequently be so overburthened, as to
render it incapable of driving the machinery at a regular speed,
thus requiring more trouble and expense for fuel, &c. This is
worthy of attention where steam is used.
The breadth of the mill being 37 feet, affords ample room for
arranging all the different machines in the carding department in
the best order, both for promoting the progress of the work, and
allowing the different workers that are employed in tliis depart-
SPINNING AND WEAVING MACHINERY. 307
ment to attend to their employments, without being in the least
incommoded for want of sufficient room.
The length of the mill being 145 feet, would aflford sufficient
space for the spinning machines. Two upright shafts would be
quite sufficient for driving all the machinery contained in a mill
of this length. The cotton and waste cellars should be a detached
building to lessen the risk. As the raw material is prepared in
the carding room for all the spinning departments, the cards ought
to be placed as near the centre of the mill as possible. A factory
of the dimensions recommended above, six stories, would require
two preparation rooms ; these might be placed on the same floor
with the picking-rooms. As there is always a constant communi-
cation between these two departments, if they are placed at a
distance from each other, a great deal of time must unavoidably
be lost in passing to and from the one to the other ; but by this
arrangement very little time will be lost; for the laps can be
carried direct from the spreading machines to the back of the
breaker cards, and the tops, strips, or other waste returned in the
same way. An easy method for conveying the rove from the
carding to the spinning room, should be adopted to save time and
labour. The staircase ought always to be placed on the outside
of the mill, and the outer door always kept shut during working
hours. As it is obvious that the particular arrangement of the
different departments, and the order in which the machinery is
placed will always have a prominent influence upon the productive
capabilities of large establishments, the advantage of having them
arranged in the best manner which practical wisdom and expe-
rience can suggest, is so apparent as to require no force of lan-
guage to prove it. And if such arrangements depend upon the
particular form or plan upon which the factory is built, then the
importance of having the difierent departments arranged in the
most approved manner, is so obvious as to need no further com-
ment.
The Method of calculating the Speed of the different Shafts and
Machines,
In calculating the speed of the various shafts, the first thing to
be done is to find the revolutions per minute of the first or main
shaft ; and when this is known, the principle upon which to pro-
ceed in tracing out the speed per minute of all the other shafts
throughout the whole establishment, is both simple and easy to be
understood.
Suppose the first moving power to be a water wheel ; find how
308 MEMOtR OP SAMUEL BLATl^R.
many revolutions it makies per minute, then, how many teeth are
in the spur or bevel wheel. Multiply this number by the revolu-
tions of the wheel per mintite, and divide the last product by the
tlumber of teeth in th^ pinion acting in the same, and the result
Will be the revolutions of the first shaft per minute.
But if the first moving power should be an engine, the first
thing to be done is to find the number of strokes the engine makes
per minute ; and if the engine crank be attached to the wheel,
then every double stroke of the engine will make one revolution
of this wheel, and it will be the first driving wheel. Multiply the
number of teeth which it contains by its revolutions per minute,
and divide the product by the number of teeth in the pinion which
is fixed on the end of the first shaft, and the result thus obtained
will be the revolutions per minute of the shaft. And when the
speed of the first shaft is thus found, the process of tracing out
the speed of all the others, will be comparatively easy. Suppose
an engine of 50 horses' power, and making 40 single strokes per
minute, equal to 20 revolutions of the first shaft ; therefore this
shaft revolveis 20 times per minute. Upon the end of the first
shaft there is a large driving wheel, containing 96 teeth, driving
the second 'shafts. Upon one end of the second shafts are two
pinions containing 48 teeth each, driven by the large wheel.
Upon the othefr end are two wheels, containing 66 teeth each,
driving the upright ^a:fts, upon the foot of which are the pinions,
containing 32 teeth ; upon the top of the upright shafts are the
wheels, containing 54 teeth each ; these wheels drive the cross
shafts. The pinions upon the ends of the cross shafts (which
receive the motion from the upright shafts) contain 42 teeth each.
Required the revolutions per minute of each shaft.
Rule. — Multiply the speed per minute of the first shaft, by the
number of teeth in the first driving wheel, and divide the product
by the number of teeth in the pinion, which is fixed upoti one end
of the second shaft, and the result will be the speed per minute of
the second shaft. In like manner, the speed of the upright shaft
may be obtained by multiplying the speed per minute of the second
shaft, by the teeth in the driving wheel, which is fixed upon the
other end of the second shaft, and dividing the product by the
number of teeth in the pinion which is on the foot of the upright
shaft. And to find the speed of the cross shafts, multiply the speed
per minute of the upright shaft by the teeth in the wheel on the
top of the upright shaft, and divide the product by the teeth in the
pinion on the cross shaft ; and so by the same process, the speed
of any shaft may be traced out, however remote, or at whatever
distance it may be situated from tt\e fttat moving power. •
SPINNING AND WEAVING MACHINERY.
309
EXAMPLES.
Speed per minute of the first shaft, 20 revolutions.
Number of teeth on the first driving wheel, 96.
Number of teeth in tlie pinion 48)1920(40 speed per minute of
192 second shaft.
Speed of second shaft per minute, 40 revolutions.
Number of teeth in the wheel, 66
Number of teeth on the pinion 32)2240(70 speed of upright shaft.
Speed of upright shafts per minute, 70
Teeth in the wheel on the top of upright shaft, 64
42)3780(90 speed of cross
shaft.
To find the speed per minute of any given shaft.
Rule. — Begin at the first moving power, and trace out all the
driving and all the driven wheels separately. Multiply all the
driving wheels together, and their product by the speed per minute
of the first shaft ; then multiply all the driven wheels together,
including the first driven wheel on the given shaft, (the speed of
which we wish to ascertain ;) divide the product of the drivers by
the produce of the driven, and the result thus obtained will be the
speed of the given shaft. Required the speed of cross shafts.
Driving wheels.
First wheel,
Third wheel.
Fifth wheel.
EXAMPLE.
Driven wheels or pinions.
Second pinion, 48
Fourth pinion,
Sixth pinion.
96
66
64
96
66
32
42
Speed of shaft
576
480
6376
54
21604
26880
290304
20
64612)5806080(90 speed of the cross shafts.
580608
3L0 AlEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
The preceding examples sufficiently illustrate the process of
tracing out the speed of all the different shafts ; for by the same
process we can trace the q)eed of any number of shafts throughout
all their windings, even to the remotest department of any factory.
The speed per minute of the cross shafts, which give motion to
all the machinery in both the carding and spinning rooms, should
always range from 88 to 90 revolutions. By the preceding exam-
ples the speed of the cross shafts will be found to be 90 revolu-
tions per minute. When the speed of the cross shafts is known,
the speed of all the different machines in either the carding or
spinning departments, may be easily ' ascertained. Commence
with the spinning department.
To find the speed per minute of the fit/ on the jenny.
Rule. — Begin first at the cross shaft, and trace out all the
driving and driven pulleys and drums separately, from the large
driving pulleys, on the cross shaft, to the fast and loose belt pulleys
on the axle of the fly on the jenny. Multiply the diameters of all
the driving pulleys and drums together, and their product by the
speed of the cross shaft.* Then multiply the diameters of all
driven pulleys and drums together, and with their product divide
the product of the drivers as found above ; the result will be the
revolutions of the fly per minute.
Say the large driving pulleys, upon the cross shaft, are 20 inches
in diameter ; likewise suppose that all the belt drums, and belt
pulleys, are all the same diameter, viz. 18 inches. Required the
revolutions of the fly or rim per minute.
EXAMPLE.
Driving drums and pulleys. Driven drums and pulleys.
Pulleys on cross shaft, 20 inches.
Belt drums, 1 8 do.
Speed of cross shaft per minute, 90
Diameter of pulleys, 20
Top speed pulleys, 18 inches.
Belt pulleys, 18 do.
Diameter oftop speed pulley 18)1800(100 revolutions per minute
18 of the belt.
Say the wheel, on the same shaft with the pulleys, contains 74
* In all calculations of this kind where the drivers and driven are sepa-
rated and multiplied together with a view to ascertain their relative speed,
should wheels, containing the same number of teeth or drums, or pulleys of
the same diameter, occur on both sides, these may be omitted in the opera-
tion. In these examples such are therefore omitted in the operation.
SPINNING AND WEAVING MACHINERY. 311
teeth, and working into the wheel, of 84 teeth, on the axle of
the fly.
Speed per minute of belt pulleys, 100
Teeth in the wheel, 74
84)7400(88.09 revolutions of the fly
per minute on the first speed.
Say the wheel, on the same shaft with the pulleys, contains 84
teeth, and working into the wheel, of 74 teeth, on the axle of
the fly.
Speed per minute of belt pulleys, 100
Teeth in the wheel, 84
Teeth in the wheel, 74)8400(113.5 revolutions of the fly
per minute on the second speed.
The revolutions of the fly being known — to find the revolutions
of the front roller of the jenny per minute.
Rule. — Begin at the bevel wheel, on the axle of the fly, and
trace out the driving and driven wheels from it to the wheel on
the front roller. Multiply the number of teeth in the drivers toge-
ther, and their product by the revolutions of the fly, and multiply
the number of teeth in the driven together. Divide the product
of the former by the product of the latter, and the result will be
the revolutions of the front roller per minute.
EXAMPLE.
Drivers, Driven,
Wheel on axle of fly, 50
Wheel on under end of bevel
shaft, 34
Revolutions of the fly per minute,
Teeth in the wheel on under end
of bevel shaft, 34
Wheel on top of bevel shaft, 50
Wheel on front roller, 60
88.09 or first speed.
35236
26427
Wheel on top of bevel shaft, 50)2995.06(59.90 revolutions of the
front roller per minute.
To find the revolutions of the spindle for one of the fit/, and of the
spindle per minute.
Rule. — When the wharves are one inch diameter, multiply the
diameter of the fly by the diameter of the drum-band groove in
the twist pulley, and divide by the diameter of the fly-band
groove.
312 MBMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
Suppose the diameter of the fly to be 40 inches, fly-band groove
in twist pulley 14^, and drum-band groove 16 inches. Required
the revolutions of the spindle for one of the fly.
EXAMPLE.
Diameter of fly, 40 inches.
Do. of drum-band groove, 16
Do. of fly-band groove, 14.5)640.0(44 revolutions of the spin-
580 die, for one of the fly.
600
680
20
The revolutions of the spindle for one of the fly being 44, this
multiplied by the revolutions of the fly per minute, gives the re-
volutions of the spindle per minute.
Revolutions of fly on the first speed, 88.09 x 44—3876.96 re-
volutions of spindle per minute on first speed.
Revolutions of fly on the second speed, 113.5 x 44«4994 re-
volutions of spindle per minute on second speed.
Note. — It is difficult to find any general rule by which the revolutions of
the spindle for one of the fly or rim can be exactly ascertained by calcala-
tion, because these are often found to vary according to the thickness of tbf
drum and fly-bands, the diameter of the wharves, Slc. The older them
bands are, they become smaller and sink deeper into the grooves ; hence the
variations of the spindle in proportion to the fly. The above role, will be
found to come as near the truth as any which has hitherto been suggested.
Say the cross shafts which give motion to the various machines
in the carding and picking rooms, revolve 90 times per minute.
Required the speed of the diflerent machines in these depart-
ments.
To find the speed of the cards per mitiute.
Rule. — Begin at the cross shaft, and multiply its revolutions
per minute, by the number of teeth in the wheel, and divide the
product by the teeth in the pinion on the card-drum shaft ; this
will give the revolutions of the shaft per minute. Multiply this
by the diameter of the card drums, and divide the product by the
diameter of the belt pulleys, on the axle of the card cylinder ; the
SPINNING AND WSAVINQ MACHINERY. 313
result thus obtained, will be the revolutions of the card c]^der
per minute.
EXAMPLE.
Teeth in the pinion, 36
Diameter of belt pulleys, 16
Teeth in the wheel, 40
Diameter of card drums in. 18
Speed of cross shaft, 90
Teeth in driving wheel on do. 40
Teeth in driven pinion, 36)3600(100*revolutions per minute of
36 the card drum shaft.
Revolutions of shaft per minute, 100
Diameter of card drums, * 18 inches
Diameter of belt pulleys on axle
of card, 16)1800(112.5+ revolutions of card
cylinder per minute.
7b find the revoliUians per minute of the delivering shaft in the
card.
Rule. — Begin at the pinion on the main axle of the card cy-
linder, and trace out the driving and driven wheels, or pinions
separately, from it to the pinion on the end of the delivering shaft.*
Multiply all the drivers together, and their product by the revo-
lutions of the cylinder per minute ; then multiply all the driven
together, and with their product divide the product of the former.
EXAMPLE.
Drivers. Driven,
Teeth in pinion on main axle, 20
Teeth in pinion, 48
Revolutions of cylinder per minute, 112.5
Teeth in pinion on main axle, 20
Teeth in wheel, 144
Teeth in pinion, 22
Teeth in wheel, 144
Teeth in pinion, 22
2250.0
Teeth in pinion, 48
288
288
180000 3168
90000
3168)108000.0(34.99+ revolutions
of delivering shaft per minute.
* The resolutions of the feeding roller is found by the same method as
the* delivering shaft.f Intermediate wheels or drums are never taken into
the operation of calculating the speed or draught of any kind of machinery.
t The fhafU in carding and picking rooms, revolving at the rite of 100 timee per
minote, the ipeed of all the different maehines in these departments may be odeuUted
flon this*
40
314 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL 8LATEB.
The revolutions of the ddivering shaft per minute being 34.09,
multiplying it by the circumference of the delivering ba^, gifes
the length produced per minute.
To Jiiid the speed of the cylinder shaft in the drawing-frame.
Rule. — Multiply the diameters of the drums together, and their
product by the speed per minute of the shaft, and multiply the
diameters of the driven pulleys together. Divide the product of
the former by the product of the latter ; the result is the speed
per minute of the cylinder shaft.
EXAMPLE.
Driving drums. Driven pullers.
Speed of shaft, 100 Diameter of pulley, 16.76
Diameter of drum, 18
Diameter of pulley, 16
14400 10060
1800 1676
268.00)32400.00(120.89+ revolutions 268.00
of cylinder shaft per minute.
To find the speed of the fly or ttjAe frames per mintUe.
Rule. — Multiply the diameters of the driving drums together,
and their product by the speed of the shaft ; and multiply the
diameters of the speed pulley, and the belt pulley, on the end of the
frame shaft, together. Divide the product of the former by the
product of the latter, and the result is the speed per minute of the
frame shaft.
EXAMPLE.
Speed per minute of shaft 100
Diameter of drum, inches, 18
Diameter of drum, do. 18
Speed of shaft, 100
Diameter of speed pulley, 13}
Diameter of belt-piuley, 11}
Diameter of pulley, 13.75
Diameter of drum, 18 Diameter of pulley, 11.5
1800 6875
Diameter of drum, 18 1375
1375
14400
1800 158.125
158.125)32400.000(204.90 speed of fly or tube frame
shaft per minute.
To find the speed per minute of the scutching machine.
Rule. — Multiply the speed per minute of the shaft in the pick-
ing room, by the diameter of the main drum, and the product by
ir
;<
^
m.
^ - —
V ^ V
8PINHINQ AND WEAVING MACHINERY. 315
the diameter of the drum ; then multiply the diameter of the drum
by the diameter of the belt pulleys, on the shaft, on the machine.
Divide the product of the former by the product of the latter ; the
result will be the speed per minute of the shaft.
EXAMPLE.
Diameter of drum, 18
Diameter of belt pulleys, 10^
Speed of shaft per minute, 100
Diameter of drum, 24
Diameter of drum, 22
180
Speed of shaft, 100 9
Diameter of drum 24 — ^
2400
Diameter of drum 22
189
4800
4800
189)52800(279.36+ revolutions per minute of
shaft in scutching machine.
The preceding calculations are merely intended to exemplify the
method of tracing out the motions of the various shafts and ma-
chines, from the power which gives the first motion, to the remotest
movement in the whole establishment.
The plan of the shafts and other gearing, in some of the old
establishments, will be found much more complicated ; yet still
the principles upon which their various speeds are calculated are
always the same ; and if once these are properly understood, the
method of tracing out the speed of every shaft throughout the
ramifications of even the most complicated establishments, will
then be comparatively easy.
If there are dififerent kinds of cotton used, it is important that
they should be properly and regularly mixed together ; and unless
this be particularly attended to, a regular and uniform quality of
jrarn cannot be produced.
The cotton is weighed previous to being put into the spreading
machine, and when spread into a given length and thickness, is^
called a feed ; a number of these follow each other ; so that a con-
tinuous web of cotton passes through the machhie, and is rolled
on a wooden roller, until it be of sufficient size, when it is carried
to the cards, in which state it is called a breaker lap.
If any machine, in the whole process of cotton spinning, be of
more use and importance than another, it is the carding engine ;
316 MRMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
nor can it be dispensed with, the process of cotton spinningi
(properly speaking,) begins only at the carding ; for all the pre-
vious departments of the process are merely preparatory to diis,
and consist chiefly in mixing, cleaning, and opening the cotton,
so as that the cards may take the best effect upon it.
That much depends upon a proper system of doubling and
drawing for making a superior quality of yam, is generally ad-
mitted. And as I believe that it is owing to the particular manage-
ment of this essential part of the process that enables one spinner
to excel another in the quality of the yarns they produce, too
much importance, therefore, cannot be attached to this subject.
For whatever be the quality of the cotton that is used, or the yam
required, the whole doubling and drawing must be regulated ac-
cordingly. And unless the one be adjusted to suit the other, it is
vain to expect a superior quality of yarn.
To find the iioisis per inch an the yam^ suppose No. 36.
Rule. — Multiply the revolutions of the front roller by its cir-
cumference, and divide the revolutions of the spindle per minute
by the product.
EXAMPLE.
Revolutions per minute of the front roller, 58.72
Circumference of do. 3| inches.
17616
734
183.50)4000.00(21 .70-f twists
per inch in the yam.
Spinning masters who have occasion to be frequently changing
the sizes of yam, may sometimes be at a loss to know the precise
quantity of twist that particular numbers will require, unless they
liave some rule to direct them how to find what twist will suit any
given numbers of either weft or warps.
The following rules for finding this are considered to be the
most correct. Rule 1. If for warp yam, allow 25 twists to the
inch, or 25 revolutions of the spindle for the inch of yam of No.
50, and the same for No. 60 wefts. Taking the above for the
data upon which to proceed. To find the twists per inch that
any given size of yam will require. Rule 2. If for warp
yarn, as No. 50 is to the square of 25 so is the given size, to the
square of the twists per inch which the given size requires.
BPimriNa amd wbavino hachtmbrt. 317
EXAMPLE.
How many twists per inch will No. 64 warp yam require ?
A«No. 60 : 26x26-626 : : 64
64
2500
3750
60)40000
800(28^ twist required for No. 64 warps.
4
48)400
384
16
16)-=i
48
RvLB 3. — If for weft yam, as No. 60 is to the square of 26
80 is the given size to the twists per inch, which the given size
of yam requires.
EXAMPLE.
How many twists per inch will No. 80 wefts require?
As No. 60 : 26x26-626 : : 80
80
60)60000
Find the square root of 823.33(28.69 twists per inch re-
4 quired for No. 80 wefts.
48)423
8 384
666)3933
6 3396
6729)53700
61561
•
2139
There is another short and simple rule, approved of by some
managers, for finding the twists per inch, which any given size
may require, which may be shortly stated without exemplifjring it.
Rule. — Multiply the square root of the given size by 3| if for
318 MEMOIR OP 8AMUBL 8LATBR.
warp yarn, and by 3j if for wefts ; the result of either will be the
twists per inch which the given size of yarn requires.
Managers of spinning factories do not seem yet to be agreed
upon what is the most proper dimensions of a mule jenny. Some
contend, that mules containing from 264 to 280 spindles, are the
most profitable, because they generally turn off a much greater
quantity of yarn in proportion to their spindles, than those of a
larger size ; and, besides, they are easier to work or manage, and
not so. destructive to the dnun and fly bands, having less weight
to drive. Others, again, suppose, that as all mules, of whatever
size, require the same gearing, as well as drums and belts, to move
them, the larger the better : as a factory filled with mules of a
large size will require less power to drive it, having less gearing,
it will require fewer belts, &c. &c.
Young carding and spinning masters, who have newly entered
into a charge in any of the departments, or for operatives and me-
chanics, who may be looking forward to such a situation, it is of
the utmost importance that they exercise themselves in performing
all kinds of calculations connected with the business, and thereby
acquire expertness in performing them, when necessary, as it will
be the means of saving much trouble and uncertainty afterwards.
Velocity of Wheels. — Wheels are for conveying motion to the
different parts of a machine, at the same, or at greater or less velo-
city, as may be required. When two wheels are in motion their
teeth act on one another alternately ; and, consequently, if one of
these wheels has 40 teeth, and the other 20 teeth, the one with 20
will turn twice upon its axis for one revolution of the wheel with
40 teeth. From this the rule is taken, which is : — As the velocity
required is to the number of teeth in the driver, so is the velocity
of the driver to the number of teeth in the driven.
J{ote. To find the proportion that the velocities of the wheels,
in a train, should bear to one another, subtract the less velocity
from the greater, and divide the remainder by the number of one
less than the wheels in the train ; the quotient will be the number
rising in arithmetical progression, from the least to the greatest
velocity of the train of wheels.
EXAMPLE.
What is the number of teeth in each of three wheels, to produce
17 revolutions per minute ; the driver having 107 teeth, and
making 3 revolutions per minute ?
^=J^ ^7 therefore 3, 10, 17, are the velocities of the
3—1= 2 ' > »
three wheels.
8PINNIIIG AND WEAVING MACHINES. 319
By the ride,
107x3
10 : 107 : : 3 : 32 « =32 teeth.
10
32x10
17: 32:: 10: 19- =19 teeth.
17
THE COMMUNICATION OF POWER.
There are no prime movers of machinery from which power
is taken in a greater variety of forms than the water-wheel, and
among such a number there cannot fail to be many bad applica-
tions. Suffice it here to mention one of the worst, and most
generally adopted. For driving a cotton mill, there is a water-
wheel about twelve feet broad, and twenty feet diameter ; there is
a division in the middle of the buckets upon which the segments
are bolted round the wheel, and the power is taken from the ver-
tex : from this erroneous appUcation, a great part of the power is
lost ; for the weight of water upon the wheel presses against the
axle in proportion to the resistance it has to overcome, and if the
axle was not a large mass of wood, with very strong iron journals^
it could not stand the great strain which is upon it.
The most advantageous part of the wheel, from which the
power can be taken, is that point in the circle of gyration hori-
zontal to the centre of the axle ; because, taking the power from
this part, the whole weight of water in the buckets acts upon the
teeth of the wheels ; and the axle of the water wheel suffers no-
strain. The proper connection of machinery to water wheels is
of the first importance, and mismanagement in this particular
point is often the cause of the journals and axles giving way,
besides a considerable loss of power. To find the radius of the
circle of gyration in a water wheel is therefore of advantage to
the saving of power, and the following example will show the
rule by which it is found.
EXAMPLE.
Required the radius of the circle of gyration in a water-wheel,
30 feet diameter ; the weight of the arms being 12 tons, shrouding
20 tons, and water 15 tons.
30 feet diameter, radiusnl5 feet.
S. 20xl5»«4500x2=: 9000 ) The opposite side of the water-
A. 12 X 15«« 900 X 2= 1800 ( wheel must be taken.
W. 15xl5«=3375 = 3375
2x20+12=64
W.15 14175
320
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER*
W.15 14175
79
79
179 the square root of which is
IZ^^ feet, the radius of the
circle of gjrration.
The preceding examples sufficiently illustrate the process of
tracing out the speed of all the different shafts : for by the same
process we can trace the speed of any number of shafts through-
out all their windings, even to the remotest department of any
fiictory. The speed per minute of the cross shafts, which give
motion to all the machinery in both the carding and spinning-
rooms, should always range from 88 to 70 revolutions. By the
preceding examples the speed of the cross shafts will be found to
be 90 revolutions per minute. When the speed of the cross shafts
is known, the spa^d of all the different machines in either the
carding or spinning departments, may be easily ascertained.
On the opposite page will be found a table condensed from New-
ton's machinist's table, showing the proportional radii of wheels to
their pitch.
Extract from Baines^s History of the Cotton Manufacture in Engkuuf
Prices 0/ maekimmTf m (At I Aitmmt
United StatBt, 1834 mU t» V.B.
Pricu •f mocAincry ui EMglmndt
1834.
Card'g engines,
Throstles,
per spindle,
Mmesperdo.
Dressing Ma-
chines,
Power Looms,
£30 to 40
83. to 9s.
4s.6 to 5s.
£30 to 35
£7^ to 8^
£40 to 50
1.4. to 1.6
13s to 14s
£80 to 90
£12 to 16
$144 to 192
2.91 to 1.92
1.08 to 1.20
I
$144 to 168
36 to 40.80
$192.00 to 240
* 5.76 to 6.22
$ 3.12 to 3.36
* 384 to 432
57.60 to 76.80
9100 to 290
$4J35to6
$2.12 to 2.25
$400
* 50 to 751
Mr. White.
I hare obtained the actual sale prices of the above named machinery trout
one of the principal machine makers in this city, Mr. Stanford Newell, which
I beliere to be correct. Yoars, very respectfally, Z. Allbn.
The fact respecting the higher prices of American machinery, arises from
their ornamental work, which the English think unnecessary ; as they re-
gard only the utility and durability of the machine. This circumstance
may be worthy the attention of our machinists ; whether it is best to expend
so much for polishing the appearance of the works.
Table of the Proportional Radii of fVheels, frotn i to 3 Inches Pitch.
No. of 1
Teeth, t
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
30
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
130
130
0.405
0.444
0.483
0.523
0.562
0.601
0.641
0.680
0.720
0.759
i
140
150
160
170
180
190
200
210
230
230
240
350
0.799
1.196
1.593
1.991
2.388
2.786
3.184
3.582
3.980
4.377
4.775
5.173
0.809
0.887
0.966
1.045
1.123
1.202
1.281
1.361
1.440
1.519
260
270
380
390
300
310
320
330
340
350
360
370
380
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
m
5.571
5.969
6.367
6.764
7.162
7.560
7.958
8.356
8.754
9.152
9.550
9.947
11.142
1.214
1.331
1.449
1.567
1.685
1.804
1.922
2.041
2.160
2.278
1^8 2.397
2.392 3.588
3.186 4.780
3.982 5.972
4.777 7.165
5.572 8.358
6.368 9.552
7.163 10.745
7.959 11.938
8.755 13.132
9.55U 14.326
10.34615.519 20
1.61S
1.775
1.932
2.089
2.247
2.405
2.563
2.721
2.879
3.038
16.713
11.93817.906
12.733 19.100 25.466
13.529 20.293
14.325 21487128.649
15.12022.681
15.91623.874
16.71225.068
18.303
19.099
19.895
10.345 20.691
10.743 21.486
11.141 22.38233.423
11.539 23.07834.617
3.196
4.783
6.373
7.963
9.554
11.145
12.736
14.327
H
2.023
2.218
2.415
2.612
2.809
3.006
3i2U4
3.401
3.599
3.797
3.995
5.979
7.966
94)54
11.942
13.931
15.920
17.909
15.91819.898
17.509
li
2.427
2.662
2.898
3.134
3.370
3.607
3.844
4.082
4.319
4.557
21.887 26J264
19.101 23.876 28.651
.69225.865.31.038
17.508 26i261
27.455
28.649
29.842
31.036
11.937 33.874
12.335 34.669
13.733 25.465
13.130 26.261
13.528 27.057
13.93637.853
14.324
14.722
15.120
28.648
29.44^
30J2U)
35.811
37.004
38.198
39.391
40.585
41.779
42.972
44.166
45.360
4.794
7.175
9.559
11.945
14.330
16.717
19.103
21.490
23.877
li
2.832
3.106
3.381
3.656
3.932
4.209
4.485
4.762
5.039
5.316
2i
22J284 27.855:33.426
23.87539.84435.813
31.83338.200
(37.058133.822 40.587
35.812 42.974
45.361
47.748
50.136
52.523
54.910
57.297
59.685
5.593
8.371
11.152
13.935
16.719
19.503
22.287
25.072
27.857
30.641
33.426
36i211
30i24l37.80l
31.83239.790
33.424
35.015
36.607
38.198
39.790
41.381
32J230 42.973
44.564
47.747
49.339
50.930
52.522
54.114
55.705
57J297
58.888
60.480
41.780
43.769
45.759
47.748
49.737
51.727
53.716
55.705
46.156 57.695
518 31.03646.553
31.115 46.673
31.19546.792
637 31.274 46.911
31.35447.031
717 31.43347.150
31.51347.270
31.59347.389
31.67247.508
876 31.75247.628
15.9 16|3l"831 47.747
41
62.071
62.230
62.389
62.549
62.867
63.185
63.344
63.504
63.663
59.684
61.674
63.663
65.652
67.642
69.631
71.621
73.610
75.600
77.589
77.788
77.987
78.186
62.708 78.385
78.584
63.026 7a783
78i)82
79.180
62.07^
64.459
66.847
69J334
71.621
74.008
76.396
78.783
81.170
83J558
85.945
88.332
90.719
38.996
41.781
44.566
47.351
50.130
52.921
55.707
58.492
61.277
64.062
66.847
69.632
3J236
3.549
3.864
4.179
4.494
4.810
5.126
5.442
5.759
6.0761
3.641
3.993
4.347
4.701
5.056
5.411
5.767
6.122
6.479
6.835
2i
6.392
9.567
12.746
15.926
19.107
22J289
25.471
28.654
31.386
35.019
38.202
41.384
93.107
93.345
93.584
93.823
94.062
94.300
94.539
94.778
95.017
79.37995iJ55
79.578^95.494
72.417
75502
77.988
80.773
83.558
86.343
89.128
91.913
94.699
97.484
100.269
103.054
105 839
44.567
47.750
50.933
54.116
57iJ99
60.482
63.665
66.848
70.031
73i214
76.397
79.560
7.192
10.763
14.339
17.917
21.496
25.075
28.655
32i?35
35.816
39.3P6
42.977
46.557
4.045
4.437
4.830
5i223
5.617
6.012
6.407
6.803
7.198
7.594
4.854
5.3341
5.795
6.368
6.741
7515
7.689
8.163
a638
9.113
7.991
liai58|
15J33
19.908
33.884
37.861
31.839
35.817
39.795
43.774
47.758
51.730
108.625
10a903
109.182
109.460
109.739
110.017
110596
110.574
110.853
111.131
111.410
82.763
85.946
89.129
92.312
95.495
98.678
101.861
105.044
108527
111.410
114593
117.776
120.959
50.138
53.719
57599
60.880
64.461
6a042
71.623
75504
7a784
82.365
85.946
89.527
55.709
59.687
63.666
67.645
71.623
75.602
79.581
83.560
87.538
91.517
95.496
99.475
9.589
14.350
19.118
23.889
2a661
3a434
38507
42.981
47.754
52.528
57.302
62.077
124.142
124.461
124.779
125.097
125.416
125.734
126.0.52
126.370
126.689
127.007
127.325
93.108103.453
96.689107.432
100570,111.41]
103.851115.390
107.432119.369
111.013123,347
114.593127.326
118.1 741131.305
121.756135584
125.336! 139.263
12a917'143541
132.498'147520
136.079ll51.I99
66.851
71.625
76.399
81.174
854)48
90.722
95.497
100571
105.046
109.820
114.595
ll9.36i^
139.660'I55.178
140.018:155.576166.691
140.3761554)74
140.7341 1 56.372
141.U92 156.769
141.451157.167
141.8091157.565
142.167 157.9G3
142.525;i.'ia361
124.144
1284)19
133.693
13a468
143542
1484)17
152.791
157-566
162.341
167.115
171.890
176.664
181.439
186.213
142.883
143 241
158.759
159.157,
187.168
187.646
18ai23
188.601
189.078
189.556
190.033
190.511
190.988
322 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
Motion^ Resistance, and Effect of Machines,
Various as the modifications of machines are, and innumerable
their different applications; still there are only three distinct
objects to which their utility tends. The first is, in furnishing
the means of giving to the moving force the most commodious
direction ; and, when it can be done, of causing its action to be
applied immediately to the body to be moved. These can rarely
be united, but the former can be accomplished in most cases. The
second, in accommodating the velocity of the work to be performed,
to the velocity with which alone a natural power can act. The
third and most essential advantage of machines, is in augmenting,
or rather in modifying, the energy of the moving power in such a
manner, that it may produce effects of which it would have been
otherwise incapable. For instance, a man might with exertion
lift 4001bs.; but let him apply a lever, and he will lift many times
that weight. The motions produced by machines are of three
kinds, viz. accelerated, uniform, and alternate, t. c. accelerated and
retarded. The first of these always takes place when the moving
power is immediately applied ; the second, after the machine has
been in motion for a short time ; the third, in intermitting machines,
such as pendulum clocks, &c.; but though a seconds' pendulum is
accelerated the first half second and retarded the next, still it pro-
duces a constant number of vibrations in a given time, and there-
fore may be considered as a machine of uniform motion. The
grand object, in all practical cases, is to procure a uniform motion,
because it produces the greatest. All irregularities of motion indi-
cate that there is some point resisting the motion, and to overcome
which a part of the propelling power is wasted, and the greatest
varying velocity is only equal to that velocity by which the ma-
chine would move when its motion is uniform. If the machine
moves wilh an accelerating velocity, it is certain that the power is
greater than what balances the opposing resistance, and therefore
cannot produce the greatest effect ; because the whole resistance
is not applied. In both these cases the macliine has neither the
power nor the effect which it would have if moving uniformly.
When irregularity of motion takes place, particularly in a large
heavy machine, it suffers a continual straining and jolting which
must very soon destroy it. It is therefore of the greatest conse-
quence, that, from all machines, every cause tending to produce
irregularity of motion should be taken away.*
* Hydrodynamics, which signifies water and power or force, is that branch
of natural philosophy which embraces the phenomena exhibited by water
SPINMING AND WEAVING MACHINERY. 323
Management and government of Spinning Factories^ J^c.
Cotton spinning factories, like all other establishments where a
large capital is invested for the purpose of manufacturing any par-
and other fluids, whether they are at rest or Id motion. It treats of the pres-
sure, the equilibrium, the cohesion, the motion, and the resistance of fluids ;
and of the construction of the machines by which water is raised, and in
which it is the first mover or the primary agent. This science is generally
divided into hydrostatics and hydraulics^ the former of which considers the
pressure, equilibrium, and cohesion of fluids ; and the latter, their motion,
the resistance which they oppose to moving bodies, and the various machines
in which they are the principal agent. Although hydrodynamics is but a
modern science, and was studied by the ancients only in its most general
principles, yet many of the leading doctrines and phenomena upon which it
if founded are familiar to the rudest nations, and must have been well
known in the very earliest ages of society. Even at the remote period
when man first trusted himself to the waves, the pressure of fluids, and the
phenomena of floating bodies, were undoubtedly known to him ; and in the
more advanced state of navigation, when the Phoenicians were able to colo-
nise the most distant regions of the globe, the directing power of the helm,
the force and management of the oars, the action of the wind upon the tail,
and the resistance opposed to the motion of the vessel, were well known
facts which implied practical acquaintance with some of the most important
doctrines of hydrodynamics. Notwithstanding, the doctrine of fluids may
still be considered as deriving its origin from the discoveries of Archimedes.
The history of these discoveries has been rendered ridiculous by vulgar
fables which have long been discredited ; but it appears unquestionable, that
they originated in the detection of a fraud committed by the jeweller of
Hiero, King of Syracuse. Archimedes was applied to by the king to ascer-
tain, without injuring the workmanship, whether or not a new crown, which
had been made for him, consisted of pure gold. The method of solving the
problem is said to have occurred to him when in the bath, and he applied it
successfully in detecting the fraud. The hydrostatical doctrines to which
Archimedes was thus conducted, were illustrated by him in two books. He
maintained that every particle of a fluid mass in equilibrio is pressed equally
in every direction. He examined the conditions in consequence of which
a floating body assumes and preserves its position of equilibrium, and he
applied to bodies that have a triangular, a conical, and a parabolic form.
He showed thai every body plunged in a fluid, loses as much of its own
weight as the weight of the quantity of water which it displaces ; and upon
this beautiful principle is founded the process which he employed for ascer-
taining the impurity of Hiero^s crown. No one could deny the result of this
experiment. The screw of Archimedes, which is still used in modern times
for raising water, is said to have been invented by him when in Egypt, for
the purpose of enabling the inhabitants to free themselves of the stagnant
water which was left in the low grounds after the inundations of the Nile ;
and AthensBus informs us, that navigators held the memory of Archimedes
in the highest honour, for having furnished them with means of canyingoff
the water in the holds of their vesseli.
324 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
•
ticular kind of goods upon an extensive scale, require to be very
skilfully managed in order to make them profitable, either for pro-
ducing a superior quality of yarn, or turning off a large quantity in
proportion to the extent of the machinery. All the different depart-
ments may be arranged in the most judicious maimer, and every
machine made and adjusted on the most approved principles, and
yet the establishment and the mode of government which gene-
rally prevails, may be greatly deficient in respect both to the
quantity and quality of its produce.
Considering the amount of capital invested in these establish-
ments, it might be expected that proprietors would be much more
scrupulous, with respect to ability and merit, in the choice of those
to whom they confide the charge of the different departments,
than they frequently are ; hence the reason why certain proprie-
tors realise a high profit from their establishments, whilst others
can scarcely secure the interest of the capital.
It is an erroneous opinion to suppose that any person, who may
not have been early and long practised in the business, can, not-
withstanding, acquire as much knowledge by their own experience
in the course of a few months, as will qualify them for taking a
full charge of a fectory. It will be admitted, that those who have
been brought up to the business, where they had many opportu-
nities of seeing the methods of adapting the different machines to
suit the various qualities of cotton, and sizes of yam, and who
know how to adjust machinery in the event of any little accidents
or errors that frequently occur in practice, must possess a decided
advantage over those who have not enjoyed so favourable oppor-
tunities. It would be advantageous for the agent or overseer of a
cotton mill to have a thorough knowledge of the business th all
its details, as without this he must sometimes leave much of the
management of certain departments to others, and they, occupying
only a subordinate station, are likely to feel a subordinate respon-
sibility : hence may arise much mismanagement, attended with
loss to the proprietors. The manager who knows his business,
can both give directions to those that are under him, as well as
discern whether they are qualified for the situations they occupy,
and when they fail in their duty.
It is a most essential qualification on the part of the manager,
that he be expert in performing all kinds of calculations connected
with the business ; in regulating the speed of the different
machines ; in adjusting the draughts of the various machines ;
and in making changes in the qualities of the cotton and sizes of
the yam. In regulating the speed of the various machines, parti-
SPINNING AND WEAVING MACHINERY. 326
cularly in the preparation department, it is important to have them,
so that the one shall not be over driven, nor the other working at
an under speed.
Let the carding en^nes be adjusted to such a speed as will suit
the nature of the cotton and the quality of the yam for which
they are preparing it ; the speed of the drawing frame should also
be regulated to take up exactly what the cards bring forward,
without any unnecessary loss of time on the part of either, and all
the other machines should be regulated in the same manner. But
it might be desirable to ascertain the most advantageous speed, at
which the different machines should be driven for the various
qualities of yam. The number of carding engines that should be
allowed to the drawing-frame is important ; from No. 80, down-
wards, the carding engines may range from eight to ten.
The proper adjustment of the draughts on the different machines
is also of equal importance to a proper arrangement of the speed.
Excess of draught on any one machine, while there is less than
necessary on another, should be uniformly avoided.
In working an inferior quality of cotton, there is always a less
quantity of yarn produced in a given time, but a much greater
quantity of waste ; besides, the yam being of an inferior quality,
is likely to hurt the credit of the manufacturer ; whereas a supe-
rior quality will always support his credit, command a fair price,
and secure a sale, so that he will often have his money when
others have their stock.
Another primary object in the management of a factory, that
ought to be studied, is the avoiding all unnecessaiy expenses by
alterations on the plan of the gearing, or arrangement of the
machinery, especially such as might only be adapted to please the
eye rather than improve the productive capabilities of the esta-
blishment. To have the large gearing all fitted up on the most
approved plan, and the machinery arranged in the manner best
calculated to facilitate the progress of the work, are doubtless
objects of the greatest importance, but when once the establish-
ment has been filled with machinery, and all its arrangements
completed, it is better to let it remain as it is, than try to improve
it ; and indeed, to begin then to make alterations, would be highly
objectionable, because the money expended on these alterations
might far exceed all the advantages arising from the supposed
improvements. To keep all the machinery in good repair, and in
tlie best working order, cannot be too highly recommended ; as
without doing so, it is impossible to produce a regular and uniform
good quality of yam ; and to keep machinery in good order, by
336
MEMOIR OP SAMUEL 8LATSR.
r^falar care and attention, is mnch easier than to repair it afier
it has been aUowed to go out of repair from negligence and want
of care.
MR. ORRELL's mill, NEAR STOCBIPORT, ENGLAND.
1. Its two>fold heart, or twin steam engines, one of which makes
its maiimnm effort, while the other makes its minimum, to secure
perfect equability of impulsion through all the ramifications of its
shafts, and to prevent arterial throbbing or tremor, formerly so
common, and so injurious to the work of delicate machines.
2. The great bevel wheel gearing, which transmits the powor
of the engine in rectangular directions, either transversely or vor-
tically, and with any modification of speed.
3. The horizontal and upright shafts, with their several polkys.
4. The distribution of the straps, or belts, that convey the
power from these revolving shafts and pulleys.
5. The respective positions of the various productive organs in
their respective floors : such as the preparation machines, throstkt,
mules, power-looms, dressing machines, warping mills, &c I^.^
Ure has promised the whole anatomy of the mill in the above
order.
The recent innovations in proportioning the sizes, regulating the
connections, and adjusting the movements of the system of shaft
gearing, form a fine feature in the philosophy of manufactures.
Thus, not only an improvement has been made in the r^rularity of
impulsion, but a considerable increase of power firom the same
prime mover has been obtained ; amounting, in some cases of dd
mills remounted by Messrs. Fairbaim and Lillie, to fully 20 per
cent. The durability of shafts so exquisitely turned and polished,
is another great advantage. The spinning &ctory of Messrs.
Ashworth, at Egerton, which has been at work for several years,
exhibits an elegant pattern of the engineering just described : for
it has some subordinate shafts, hardly thicker than the human
wrist, which convey the power of ten horses, and revolve with
great speed, without the sUghtest noise or vibration. The prime
mover of the whole is a gisrantic water wheel, of sixty feet diameter,
and one hundred horse power. I have frequently been at a loss,
in walking tlirough several of the millwright factories, to know
whether the polished shatls that drive the automatic lathes and
planing machines^ were at rest or in motion, so truly and silently
did they revolve.
The method of increased velocities in the driving arms or shafts
SPINNING AND WEAVING MACHINERY. 327
of &ctoiies is, undoubtedly, one of the most remarkable improve-
ments in practical djrnamics. It diminishes greatly the inertia of
the mass to be moved, by giving to much lighter shafts and wheels
tbe same momentum ; and it permits the pulleys or drums, which
immediately impel the machines by straps, to be reduced to a size
much nearer to that of the steam pulleys, fixed on the main axis
of these machines. About thirty years ago the velocities of the
main shafts, proceeding from the moving power, whether of steam
or water, amounted to no more than from thirty to forty revolu-
tions per minute, and of the smaller and remoter shafts, to only
fcrty or fifty. At the same period the drums were heavy tubs, and
firom thirty to upwards of sixty inches in diameter. This im-
proved system is under deep obligations for its actual state of
perfection to the above named engineers ; though it had com-
menced, as we have stated, before their time.
In the mills mounted by these gentlemen, it is interesting to see
slender shafts, like small sinewy arms, rapidly transmitting vast
power through all the ramifications of a great factory.
A mill, propelled by a steam engine of fifty horse power, was
formerly geared with shafts, having an average transverse section
of thirty-six square inches, or varying in size from four to eight
inches square. An engine of like power at the present day, will,
in consequence of the increased velocities above described, work
with cylindrical shafts not exceeding five and a half, and often
<mly three inches in diameter ; possessing, therefore, an average
area of only fifteen square inches, instead of thirty-six. The
horizontal shafts that run under the ceilings of the difierent work-
ing rooms are two inches, and seldom exceed two and a quarter
in diameter. Hence, the mass of gearing has been reduced fully
one half But the shafts now make from one hundred and twenty
to one hundred and fifty revolutions in a minute ; and, occasion-
ally, as where throstles are turned, so many as two hundred in
the same time. Thus we see the requisite momentum is gained
with a light shaft, while the friction is proportionally diminished^
and the driving drum revolves with a velocity in accordance with
the accelerated pace of the modern machines.
The philosophy of manu&ctures investigates the most economi-
cal and energetic modes of applying the motive force to the
various working organs ; the carding engings, the drawing heads,
the roving frames, the throstles, the mules, the power looms, the
dressing machines, Sec.
The dressing machine does, at present, two hundred pieces of
thirty yards each, in a week, equaling six thousand yards } and
328 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL 8LATEH.
costs in wages, to the dresser, fijfly shillings. This branch of the
trade having, in consequence of the high wages, been, like the
mule spinning, continually disturbed by unions and strikes, has
led to the invention of a self-acting machine, which will dress al
least six thousand yards of warp in two days, under the superin-
tendence of a labourer, at three shillings a day ; that is at a cost,
in wages, of six shillings. This mechanism is, at the same time,
greatly simpler and cheaper than the former, and will soon corns
into general use for coarse calicoes.
Prodigious sums are wastefuUy expended every year, which would
be saved by a more thorough acquaintance with true principles
of science and art. Several individuals who have embarked vast
fortunes in &ctories, are, to a very great extent, the victims at
least, if not the dupes, of scheming managers, who are ever ready
to display their perverse ingenuity, by the substitution of soma
intricate trap, for a simpler but less showy mechanism. There
have been many cases where a complete system of good machines,
capable of doing excellent work, has been capriciously turned cot
of a cotton factory, and replaced by another of greater expense,
but of less productive powers, and less suited to the style of work
than the old one, if skilfully managed. These substitutions are
continual in many establishments. They interfere most essen-
tially, and often unnecessarily, with the going of the mill, and are
referable almost always to injudicious choice at first, and capri-
cious alterations afterwards ; circumstances over which the pro-
prietor, from ignorance of the structure of a good machine, cannot
always venture to exercise the proper control. There are, no
doubt, many mill managers perfectly fitted, by judgment, know-
ledge, and integrity, to second the sound commercial views of the
mill owner, and to advance the business with a profitable career.
These practical men form the soul of the factory system. But
with a wrong-headed, plausible manager, the proprietor is sure to
be led such a mechanical dance as will bewilder him completely,
unless he has acquired a clear insight into the arcana of the
business, by deliberate study of the composition and performance
of each machine in his factory. It may be supposed that this
species of education can be most easily acquired in the midst of
the machinery itself; but this is a mistake, which experience
speedily proves.
The object of manufactures is to modify the productions of
nature into articles of necessity, convenience, or luxury, by the
most economical and unerring means. They have all three
SPIITNING AND WEAVING MACHINES. 329
principles of action, or three organic systems : the mechanical, the
moral, and the commercial ; which may not unaptly be compared
to the muscular, the nervous, and the sanguiferous systems of an
animal. They have also three interests to subserve, — that of the
operative, the master, and the state ; and must seek their perfection
in the due development and administration of each. The mechani-
cal being should always be subordinate to the moral constitution,
and both should co-operate to the commercial efficiency. Three
distinct powers concur to their vitality, — labour, science, capital ;
the first destined to move, the second to direct, and the third to
sustain. When the whole are in harmony, they form a body
qualified to discharge its manifold functions by an intrinsic, self-
governing agency, like those of organic life.
The drawing-frame is a most essential constituent of the spin-
ning system, executing a task much too delicate and irksome for
handicraft labour, and therefore does the highest honour to its
inventor. Sir Richard Arkwright. It equalises the riband delivered
firom the finishing card, and reduces it to one of smaller dimen-
sions, called a sliver, which it effects by uniting many ribands
into one, at the same time that it lays the fibres in parallel lines,
and attenuates the whole by a regular process of extension. The
twin-roller mechanism, which was perfected at least, if not invent-
ed, by Arkwright, derives its best illustration from the drawing
firame. This talented individual saw so clearly the great part
which this machine played, in cotton spinning, that when bad
yam made its appearance, in any one of his mills, he swore a loud
oath, according to the vile fashion of the time, and ordered his
people to look to their drawings, convinced that if they were right,
every thing else would go well. It is only those who have deli-
berately studied the intricate train of operations in a spinning
fiu!tory, who are qualified to appreciate the merit of so admirable
a systematist as Arkwright; and they know the value of his
drawing-frame far better than his invidious detractors.
The drawing of the sliver into parallel liues of filaments is
effected by the joint action of upper and under rollers ; the former
being smooth and covered with leather, the latter being fiuted
lengthwise. Of such twin-rollers, there are usually three in the
same horizontal plane, of which the three under rollers are driven
by wheel work, with either two or three successive velocities, and
carry round their incumbent weighted rollers by the effect of fric-
tion.
In silk establishments the machinery can be, and is often, em-
ployed from three to six hours after the hands have left work, to
42
330 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL 8LATER.
the advantage of the masters, (the number of hours depending on
the quality and cost of the silk) ; therefore the imposing of a restric-
tion on the moving power, in silk establishments, would have the
effect of increasing the cost on the quantity of silk turned off*.
When water power is used, the portion of the silk machinery
which contains the swifts, generally works all night without being
tended.
It is in spinning the lower numbers, as forties, and in weaving,
that the English manufacturers, some time ago, were most fearful
of being hard pressed by foreign competition.* Switzerland has,
* The Danforth (or cap) Spinner was invented in 1828, by Charles Dan-
forth, a native of Massachusetts, who had been employed for a number of
years as an operator of cotton machineiy. He, at the time, resided in
Rockland county, New York. Having had experience on the common
throstle as well as the Waltham dead spindle, he was aware that the two
greatest difficulties in these modes of spinning were the flyer being out of
balance, and the dragg of the bobbin by the strength of the thread. He
thought if any plan could be contrived to wind the yarn on the bobbin with-
out the use of the flyer, it would enable him to run the bobbin very fast
After some reflection, it occurred to him, that a bobbin revolving on a fixed
spindle, and circumscribed by a smooth, stationaiy, polished ring, suspended
from, or fixed to, the top of the spindle, would produce the desired result. He
accordingly proceeded to make the experiment. He, first, permanently se-
cured a throstle spindle in the frame to prevent its turning ; he then, aAer
cutting the curls from the ends of the flyer, riveted to them a smooth ring,
which passed round the bobbin; he then turned a groove, in the lower head
of the bobbin, for the driving band to run in, and having put all together, he
pieced up his thread and filled the bobbin without any difliculty. It was
perceived, in this first attempt, that the tension on the yam, while spinning,
was very light, and consequently the yarn wound quite ioft on the bobbin.
It was, therefore, very naturally, thought the principle would be good for
spinning weft. He, therefore, constructed his first model for weft ; and, after
making various experiments, fixed on the present mode of making and sup-
porting the stationary ring, which is a cap with a polished steel ring on the
bottom, having a conical socket in the top, made to fit a small cone on the
top of the spindle. It was also found, that the wooden bobbin, running at the
rate of 7000 turns per minute, on a fixed spindle, was apt to get dry, make a
loud noise, and wear the bobbins. To obviate this difficulty, a waive was
made, having a tube on the top of sufiicient length to pass through the bob-
bin, on which the bobbin is placed, and revolves with it. This waive takes
the friction all ofi'the bobbin, and as it is made of metal, is durable, and runs
without noise. Mr. Danforth has patented his invention in this country,
and caused patents to be taken in England and diflerent European states.
This mode of spinning has now been thoroughly tested, and is found to be
capable of producing full 40 per cent, more yarn, on counts from No. 14 to 50,
than any other plan heretofore known. It is generally approved of by the
spinners who have tried it, and has gone into use, both in this country and
i
.^. 3
"hi Tf;,..lU fy ■'.
Oaiifi-lth d- fi,, .!
WAOE8. 331
for the last seven years, not only supplied herself, but her neigh-
bours, to a considerable extent, with that mean quality which
may be reckoned the staple of cotton yarns. It appears that the
time of working cotton mills in Manchester is less, by about one
hour daily, than that in any other part of the world, where the
cotton manufacture is carried on to any extent.
It is my firm belief, that there is not a better or more certain
mode of benefiting a country village than by establishing a cotton
&ctory in it. The pure, unmixed efifect of factory labour will be
best and most easily found in the country, — where it affords regu-
lar employment, during a series of years, to the same families.
The attendance at the Sunday schools, of such as are employed
in factories, shows that that 'class of the operatives furnishes its
full proportion of scholars.
Beset, as it now is, in the departments of cotton, wool, silk, linen,
iron, and steel, by the industry of rival nations, it can maintain its
place in the van of improvement only by the hearty co-operation
among us, of heart and hand, of employer and employed. Once
thrown out of the market, it would, ere long, be distanced in the
race, by the more frugal and docile labour of the continent and
United States.— I7r«.
WAGES.
It was at my urgent request, that the writer of the following
remarks on fVages, supplied me with his views upon the subject.
His situation has .enabled him to take a practical survey, and
though I am surprised to find his ideas accord so materially with
my own conceptions, yet his essay ought to have, and doubtless
will have, more weight in the community than any thing that I
could have produced, more firom observation and reflection, than
from the best opportunity of knowing the practical operations be-
tween the employer and the employed. I was very desirous of
obtaining these observations for the chapter on the value and uses
Europe, more rapidly than any other improvement in spinning has before
been known to do. The principle is such, that instead of making the thread
drag the bobbin, the bobbin is made to drag the thread ; and the resistance
of the atmosphere and the slight friction of the thread, on the lower edge of
the ring, produces that retardation necessary for winding the yarn on the
bobbin. In consequence of which, the tension on all the threads, are per-
fectly uniform, and at the same time delicate, giving a great uniformity and
elasticity to the yarn. The machine also takes much less power than the
common throstle. They are made and sold by Messrs. Grodwin, Clarke &
Co., at their shop, in Paterson, New Jersey, who are the proprietors of the
patent, and manufacturers of all kinds of cotton and woollen machinery.
332 MEMOIR OF 8AMUSL SLATER.
of property, where they seem properly to belong ; but the mere
circumstance of the place they occupy, will not prevent a dae
consideration of the arguments. To the writer, I feel deeply in-
debted, for the pains he has taken to fulfil my request, as well as
for other assistance I have received in the pn^ess of my work.
It has been my desire to derive from the best sources, such
valuable information, as shall be useful to the operatives of this
country, on whose welfare and respectabiUty so much depends ;
whether America will be able to maintain the hig^ ground of
liberty and self-government which she has assumed, and on which
position the civilised world is looking with fear and reverence.
'^ Man is born to [laboar, says a certain aathor,] as the sparks fly apward."
We dispute not the authenticity of this text, no more than of the original.
Bat why is he bom to labour 7 The simple reason is, that in the most
spontaneous and fertile regions, the fruits of the earth drop not into hit
mouth. Were this the case, few would be found willing to give any extit-
ordinary exertion to procure them in any other way : the necessity of exer-
tion to procure, infers the right of possession and enjoyment when attained|
and hence arises a notion of property, or right of using what has been ob-
tained by the outlay of labour, and farther, what has luckily adverted to its
possessor by discovery or chance. But in order to fully secure the poaset-
sion of such acquirements, it is more than necessary that the use should be
yielded to the reward of the exertion of achievement, it is requisite that full
right should accrue to the individual to retain or dispose of such fruits of
toil in any manner or direction that he may think proper, barring the direct
injury or annoyance of his neighbour.
Hence the admitted right of bartering or devising it, either in his life time
or at death, is essential to a perfect possession ; and we have no instances
of a state of society in which one or both these rights were not believed in-
herent in individuals composing the community. Indeed the necessity of
law or custom affording this guarantee, seems implied in the very nature of
human association. Take away from man this motive to exertion, and yoa
restrict his operations to the mere immediate exercise of those functions
requisite to furnish the instant means of appeasing the stern demands of
hunger and thirst. These satisfied for the moment, the uncertainty attend-
ing future possession would effectually preclude any desire to exercise the
faculties that prompt to the accumulation of resources for consumption
beyond the pressing necessities of the hour. It is the notion of a perfect
property in whatever has accrued to him from the labour of his hands, that
is the first inducement of man to any continued effort or exertion. For this
he pursues the game on the hills, or casts his rude net into the waters ; he
spreads his snares in patience for the fowls of the air, or toils in anxious ex-
pectation for the roots that nature has hidden in the earth ; or going one step
further in the progress of civilisation and human improvement, he tames the
more docile animals to domesticity, or returns to the earth a portion of the
fruits wrested from its bosom, and awaits in full confidence the period of
WAGES. 333
fraitioD, when he shall reap the reward of his toil and providence. It is
plain that without this guarantee of possession of the proceeds of his in-
dustry and care, the first step in the amelioration of his condition could never
be accomplished by man.
We are told of a race of men who were found, by strangers risiting their
wretched island, grubbing with their fingers in the earth for roots, and strip-
ping the bark from rotten logs in search of the insects and reptiles that har-
boured within its recesses, wherewith to satisfy the cravings of unappeased
hunger. In such a herd, (for it would be preposterous to term this a com-
munity,) the notions of property and separate possession must have been
very limited indeed, extending at most to a claim for the exclusive posses-
sion of a decayed bough, and probably not farther than to the loathsome
grub just seized and about to be devoured. Tacitus describes the Fenni as
'' a sivage race living in squalid poverty and misery ; with neither arms, nor
horses, nor homes ;" and indeed whenever we hear of a nation deeply im-
mersed in barbarism, we usually find as a concomitant, an utter disregard of
the rights of property ; almost all the savage nations of the South seas are
reported by the first explorers to have been given to pilfering ; not so much
from any vicious or injurious feeling towards those they robbed, as fr6m an
imperfect notion of the right given the proprietor by previous possession.
These people are constantly represented by vt>yagers as idle and thriftless
in no ordinary degree : living on the spontaneous fruits of the earth, and
taking little or no care to hoard or increase the stock for subsistence spread
out by the hand of nature before them. They were likewise found extremely
unsusceptible of improvement or amelioration, and most probably would
never have attained any portion of either, had not some notions of property
and separate possession been infused into them by accidental intercourse
with strangers.
The idea of pioperty, then, is the earliest germ of civilisation — the first
step in the improvement of the physical, intellectual, and moral condition of
mankind ; and law and custom have found it necessary to recognise this
idea, in every really social condition. In order that these ideas may be of
any avail to the community, it is absolutely necessary that the guarantee
should be of the most perfect and inviolable character. A restricted right
or possession would be entirely nugatory. Being valueless to the individual,
it could not result in any general benefit to the community, as all must hold
under the same insecure tenure. The best laws have therefore secured pos-
sessions in the most limitless and unrestricted manner, only restraining the
proprietor from such fiagrant uses of them as would result in immediate
injury to his fellows. Subject to this wholesome restraint, he is at liberty
to use the fruits of his labour according to his own view of happiness to
himself. He may barter one species of fruit for another, he may cast his
surplus to the waves, or he may hoard it in granaries to meet his own future
occasions, or to relieve the necessities of his brethren : but the same laws
which accord these privileges to him for trifling emergencies afibrd the basis
of mdre extended operations upon similar principles. If, having a tree, he
may barter its fruits for the products of another's labour, there is no seeming
reason why he may not reserve the fruits until he cfin purchase double the
amount with the same quantity : if his own economy and foresight have
secured him from the ejects of a failure in the earth's product, is it con-
334 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
sistent with the rights of property, as necessarily laid down, that he should
part with his hard-earned store without an equivalent ; and he, having nc-
knowledged right over his own property, has also the right of dictating the
terms on which he will part with it: and here sprouts out the germ of evil
in that which is productive of so much good.
If the provident man has secured by his own unassisted endeavours sufl&-
cient for the sustenance of two for any specified time, it becomes as easy,
he may make it more so, for another to procure subsistence by giving him
his exertions for any specific objects as to seek it from other sources.
It is easy to perceive that the efibrts of two, directed by the sagacity of one,
will speedily enable the chief to add another labourer on the same terms as
the first, from whom a further profit will be derived i and the number of
those employed at length swells to an extent that precludes any other
employment for the director, than that of planning and apportioning^ the
tasks of others. Herein arises the evil from a very necessary admission.
Preponderance is given to one, and comparative subjection imposed on others,
by the steady operation of that law, without which civil society could not
hold together for an hour. Overgrown capitals, vested in the hands of par-
ticular individuals or families, control in some measure the destinies of large
portions of their fellows, and particular cases of oppression consequent upon
their predominance, grow into such common- practice as to call down just
obloquy upon the whole mass of those on whom it has devolved to furnish
employment to fellows of their race.
It is probable that, in a primitive condition, a man, compelled to seek in
the forest or the flood for the means of relieving his physical wants, would
not stop short on the possession of what was enough for one meal or two, or
for the supply of a single day. He would prefer an extra hour of labour, at
successful seasons, in order to indulge his love of ease for a longer term
after his present exertion should have ceased : he would therefore return
from his toil with a surplus that might be hoarded for the wants of the
morrow, or be bartered to advantage with his neighbour for products of
another sort. If he has stripped a tree of its chestnuts, he may dispose of
ail or a part for the returns of the labour of him who has gathered shell-fish
from the waters. The rate at which this exchange is made will depend on
several contingencies, but chiefly on the facility or difficulty of procuring
the different commodities. If, for example, the labour requisite for the
gathering LOO chestnuts be about the same as that of securing a dozen mus-
sels, the likelihood is that one will be reckoned a fair equivalent for the
other. But on the other hand, should one or the other article be difficult of
attainment, the rates would speedily change, and the one would rise and the
other fall proportionably to the operation of the above causes. If in con-
sequence of the higher value of either commodity any one should devote
himself, and others bis hired labourers, to the task of securing large portions
with a view to reaping the benefits of the labours of those engaged in ob-
taining the other commodity, he would be speedily met by two other elements
that enter into the relative value of productions — the present demand exist-
ing for them, and the perishable or enduring nature of the article. In the
first case, if he discovers that his exertions are bringing more to the mart
than there are mouths to consume or other articles to pay for, he may slacken
his exertions by parting with a portion of his labourers, or he may turn their
WAGES. 335
industry into a different channel. Should the nature of his products admit
of their being preserved uninjured or with slight deterioration in value for
some time, it may become a consideration with him whether to continue the
production and hold back in the hope of a more advantageous disposal. If
however, he decide on withdrawing some part of his labourers from the
employment and dismiss them altogether, they, having probably consumed
all their share of the gains from day to day, are compelled to resort to some
other mode of industry or continue at their present toil on their own account.
This they will be likely to do at a decrease of remuneration to themselves,
and to the manifest disadvantage of all engaged in their particular occupa-
tion.
In proportion as the produce of their toil is perishable in its nature, will
these, their difficulties, increase, and their wages fall ; or, in other words,
the amount of general commodities they can obtain for that produced by
their particular occupation will decrease, until they will, by sheer necessity,
be compelled to carry their toil into some other channel, or fail entirely in
procuring subsistence.
Perhaps there is no other element, in the fixing of a standard of value, so
prompt in its operation as the above, viz : the perishability of the article.
The difference between the products of the mine and the garden are obvious
at a glance. While all the metals, whether precious or base, maintain a
steady determinate value, from year to year, and almost extending through
centuries, the fruits of the surface of the earth, frequently many of those
most necessary to man, vary in price from day to day, and even fluctuate in
value in the same market-place within the hour. However inordinate and
keen may be the demand, it cannot preserve the equality in the price of the
most delicate and quickly injured fruits, or esculents, for a few hours to-
gether. The rapidity with which ihey waste enjoins a necessity for their
speedy disposal ; and in exact proportion to this, is their price fickle and
transitory. As the prices of labour, or wages, must of necessity depend on
the avails of that labour, at all events in the last resort, it is not at all to be
wondered at, — indeed it would be marvellous were it otherwise, — that it
should feel the influence of the same laws. Hence, as a general rule, there
is no branch of human industry so poorly remunerated, or in which profits
ean be so little relied on, as agriculture ; the very branch that devotes itself
to the most urgent necessities of the race. As if those who produce the
"fund, out of which the labourer is supported,"* should draw less of it to
their own behoof than any of the rest of their fellows.
That labour, the producing cause of all commodities, should follow the
rule of the commodities themselves, is in strict accordance with general
laws. That its price or wages should be regulated both by the demand and
by the plentifulness of the commodity or fund wherewith it is to be paid,
may be conceded to a limited extent. But there are some exceptions to the
latter, which it may be necessary for the advocates of these (as exclusive)
causes, to explain or account for. The miners in South America are the
* See ** An Enay on wag^," by H. C. Corey. Mr. C. has better concei?ed than
explained his ideas. It were easy to sliow, were his book under review, that many or
most of his views are fallacious. But we may safely trust him to the l?evteiocr«. It
seems, however, this notion belongs to Mr. Senior.
336 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
worst paid labourers in the uiii7erse, yet the fuod from which they are sa»-
tained is in the utmost profusion around them. The labourers, in the new
settlements of our own country, are better paid than any other at agricultnnd
employments, and this in spite of an utter scarcity of the means of pay-
ment, and when the means of subsistence have to be brought, at great labour
and expense, from a distance. In the first case, labour is carried to a very
bad, and in the latter, to a yery good market. Whaierer may be the gross
amount, even to profusion, of the fund from which labour is to be paid, the
proportional quantity accorded to the labourer must ever be controlled by
those who have the present possession or property of the means of payment:
and to say that there is ample, nay, exuberant means of repaying the labour
of the whole race, throughout the globe, and yet thai there are numbers who
cannot achieve a bare subsistence, by the utmost exertion, is but to describe
the present, and almost every past, condition of humanity.
It would appear that those who have turned their attention to this some-
what obscure subject, have paid little attention to that depression in the
price of wages which results from the ill choice or acceptance of the maiket,
at the same time that they have overlooked, entirely, the material element
that, more than all others, afiects the produce of labour, in common with all
other commodities, viz : — its extreme perishability.
When we consider that this quality or defect enters more largely into
human labour than into any of its products, — that it is as evanescent as time
itself, — and even perishes in the very operation of seeking a mart, we may
cease to wonder at its being so severely subjected to the overbearing exae-
tions of its employers. Capital may lie idle for a time,— the most that it can
lose is the profit that might accrue from its active employment ; or, should it
be in the shape of articles liable to decay, from the necessary deterioration
in quality that will result from their peculiar susceptibilities. But the time
lost to the labourer is without compensation ; the commodity is not lessen-
ing in value only, it is departing, departed, entirely from his grasp : and
being that, on which alone he depends for existence, unless he is willing to
perish himself, he must take the offers of the best bidder in the market. If,
therefore, he shall have confined his acquirements, or capacity for employ-
ment, to any specific branch of industry, although by thus doing he msy
have increased the avails of his labour while his employment is marketable,
he has yet thereby rendered himself more liable to a chance of failure at
different seasons: yet it must be confessed, that the general rate of the
highly skilled in one branch exceeds largely that of those who have no
other capacities than those with which strong hands and willing hearts have
invested them. The meanest handicraftsman, almost constantly, reaps
more for his exertions than the strongest and most active day labourer.*
On the other hand, the more general employment afforded to the great
mass more perfectly secures them from toial inaction. The union of the
two requisites of skill in peculiar and adaptation to general operations seems
to furnish the conditions that would entirely place the disposal of his labour
* It must be confesied that, the terms we are compelled to aae, very much tend to
confuse our notions on subjects of this sort The handicraft operative is equally a day
labourer with him who nnderstands no more than the wielding of a spade or a mattock :
and as yet wc have no terms whereby to distinguish, accurately, tlie two.
WAOB8. 337
perfectly at the command of the labourer* If we add to thia a proper re-
straint on the quantity brought into the market, and a careful economy in
its expenditure, as well as in the use of its proceeds, we shall go far towards
placing the amount of remuneration to the labourer within his own control.
But these objects are not to be effected by combinations to make specific
rules for individuals or trades. All general unions of men to carry partial
measures, must rebound with accumulated force against their operators.*
By the time that the Trades Union system shall have gone the round of the
circle of the mechanic arts, its supporters will not be a little mortified to
discover that they are precisely in the position whence they set out — viz :
that the proceeds of their toil will not enable them to purchase one ounce
more of meat, or one jot of additional gratification, beyond the prices already
afforded them-^while they will, in the mean time, have caused a great deal
of individual misery and annoyance. The error lies in supposing that they
may effect in mass what as individuals they are incompetent to perform.
But the true statement would seem to be, that every community is strong in
proportion to the strength of the individuals composing it. If their efforts
were beet to the objects of making the individual labourer experter, wiser,
more intelligent and economica] than at present — could he depend more for
his gratifications on sources within himself, and less on the trappings of the
external world, if a proper self-denial could be imposed, and juster views
cherished of the relations under which his Maker has permitted him to exist,
the labouring man might speedily be placed in a condition to secure all the
compensation that mere human toil is fairly entitled to.
These efforts must begin with the imposition of restraints on those appe-
tites which exhaust his physical powers and drain his purse ; which impose
on him the maintenance of a family before he has secured even the certainty
of constant provision for himself alone ; and which, at the same time, tend
directly to increase that stock of labour in the market which it is his manifest
interest should be limited in supply. They must go farther than this : by
making his source of enjoyment more intellectual, they must give the death
blow to that infatuated affectation or vanity that impels the man of an in-
come of one dollar to compete in external appearance with him of one
hundred per day. A mi&erable vain glory, the ofispring, but an illegitimate
one, of our republican institutions ; but fruit utterly unworthy the sons of
those mothers who substituted the hedge-thorn for pins in the dark days of
our struggle for freedom.
The first question for the day labourer to solve is : — On how much less
than my earnings can I satisfy my natural and wholesome wants — preserve
or renew my powers for future operations, and defend myself against the in-
clemency of the weather. When this is satisfactorily ascertained, he may
enquire : Is it prudent, is it honourable, is it just, that with the means within
my power, I should invite another to share the proceeds of my labour, with
the probability, almost certainty, of introducing other helpless beings into
the world to draw upon the scanty and hard-pressed pittance. Should he
not pause upon this consideration, and weigh well the different position in
which the lapse of a single year may place him ? In one case hampered
* I use the word in its vulgar acceptatioo. There are none in this country who do
not labour.
43
^338 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
with cares for which he is onable to provide, and which subject him to
labour as a stern necessity ; in the other with surplus enough lo enable him
to oppose arrogant demands, and with a mind trained to examine and decide
iipon his best interests. We are aware that argument of this sort is met by
the common cant, that the rich are not willing to permit the poor to indulge
in the enjoyments so eagerly sought by themselves ; and that the desire of
employers is to restrict the happiness of the employed ; but we are not to be
deterred from the truth by such fallacies or false testimony. Were the ac-
cumulation of wealth the sole object of the already wealthy, their most direct
means would be the encouragement of improvidence among the labourers:
inasmuch as it would place these more directly and inevitably in their power.
On the other hand, habits of providence and economy would put within the
labourer's power the means of living in real independence of the capitalist's
employment; or, in the event of a dispute, to engage in business on his own
account. He would thus be really strong ; and being in a position to with-
hold his labour for a time from the market he must of necessity be enabled
to dispose of il to greater advantage to himself, without at all interfering
with the rights or good order of the community.
But the agrarian spirit, unhappily too rife in this country, if it were per-
mitted its sway, must speedily rout up the foundations not alone of our pros-
perity, but of our whole system of liberty and laws; and to none could it
prove more injurious than to those who imagine their great advantage lies
to themselves in the change. That portion of freedom and property which is
yielded in exchange for the protection of law and the preservation of order,
redounds most forcibly to the advantage of those who apparently have the
least at stake. The wealthy, and otherwise powerful, have or may create
means of resistance to popular or individual rapacity ; they may gather
friends or hire mercenaries ; but these means of protection are not within
the compass of the small possessor. And in all turbulent or violent changes,
the greatest miseries have been undergone by the poor and weak : while, on
the other hand, under the steady operation of orderly systems, they have
been gradually advancing in comfort and consideration.
That there are objections the other way, and in this country, it would be
utterly vain to deny. That the improvidence and recklessness of labour
have placed an inordinate amount of power in the hands of capitalists, ever
too ready to accumulate in hea?y masses ; and that capital has made haste to
swell its coffers, reckless of every other consideration, there is too mnch
cause to fear; yet this furnishes no sufficient ground for any attempt to dis-
turb the orderly operation of the system. The best counterpoise is in the
hands of those who have most to dread ; and if they would but use judi-
ciously the means within their reach, they might essentially retard that too
rapid march to excess and corruption so much opposed to '* the greatest good
of the greatest number."
It must be confessed, however, that there is small hope to cheer the true
philanthropist, so long as the present defective and injurious education pre-
vails ; and especially while we continue the importation of foreign ignorance
and agitation principles. Better views must be imparted to the labourer than
he can obtain from Trades Union lectures, or the orations thundered forth
at "strike" meetings. In place of considering the man who has husbanded
the proceeds of his labour for himself or his children as a conunon robber
WAGES. 339
of the human family, such must be considered as the trae benefactors of the
race ; in as much as in no case could mankind ba?e been in the enjoyment
of the comforts by which they are now surrounded, were it not for the
savings thus accumulated.
Upon the relaiive advantages possessed by England, France, and the
United States of America, as manufacturing ncUions, By Z. Allen.
" The following table will give a comparative view of some of the most
important advantages possessed by three of the principal manufacturing
nations of the earth to manufacture at the cheapest rates. The price of
labour forms the most important particular; but the superior skill of the
labourers, and the improved machinery employed by them, must be taken
into consideration, as well as the facilities of obtaining water or steam
power. In respect to water power, the United States possess eminent
advantages over most other countries. France abounds in fine mill streams ;
but in some of the principal manufacturing districts of that country, steam
engines are from necessity frequently employed for operating machinery.
In England the water power, although of inconsiderable amount compared
to the steam powei in use there, is highly improved wherever available in
the manufacturing districts. It is probably attributable to the abundance
and cheapness of water power, that the manufacturers of the United States
are enabled to compete successfully with England and France in the pro-
duction of such fabrics as require the application of a considerable moving
force, notwithstanding the lower rates of labour in these two countries.
With the several relative advantages possessed by England and by the
United States, the rivalship between the two countries in manufactures is
probably destined to continue long, and to be intensely interesting to the
destinies of thousands of industrious artisans, when the manufacturers of
the United States shall more generally extend their competition to supply-
ing the markets of various foreign countries with some of the products of
industry now furnished from England. Already has tlie competition been
commenced and successfully maintained by the Americans, in supplying
the markets of South America with coarse cottons, and with many other
mtnufactured articles. Even the Hindoo labouring at his loom for a few
cents per day, and subsisting upon a handful of rice for his daily fare, has
been compelled to yield to the superior skill and machinery of the American
manufacturers, whose fabrics have already been transported for sale to the
distant markets of Calcutta and Canton.
*' This table will also give an idea of the relative comforts which the
labourers in these several countries can enjoy as the fruits of their toil. In
France much less, and in the United States comparatively little, is exacted
from the labourer by taxes upon the necessaries of life. For this reason a
labourer in the United Slates, although he should receive only jhe same
nominal amount of wages, possesses an advantage of more than twenty-five
per cent, over a fellow labourer in England, from the circumstance of the
comparative cheapness of almost every article which he requires for his own
use or for that of his family.
340
MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
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WAGES. 341
''From a view of the preceding table it appears that the average wages of
persons engaged in manufacturing operations are nearly twenty per cent,
cheaper in France than in England, and about eighteen or twenty per cent,
cheaper in England than in the United States. Notwithstanding the differ-
ence in the prices paid for the same descriptions of labour in France and in
England, judging from the observations which I have had opportunities of
making, it would appear that the superior skill of the English operatives,
and the improved machinery generally employed by them, yield so much
greater products as nearly to equalise the difference in the cost of labour;
and the two countries may be therefore considered as possessing nearly
equal facilities for manufacturing cheaply, so far as labour is concerned.
For instance, one man with the aid of two girls and a boy I have seen ope-
rating with the greatest apparent ease about seven hundred mule spindles in
England; whilst in the same month I have seen in Lille, in France, two
Frenchmen exerting their utmost force to turn by their manual labour the
crank of a single mule of only two hundred spindles, with a boy to assist in
piecing the threads. Very many of the French mills are operated by horses,
which may be frequently observed traversing in their monotonous circle
beneath the vaulted arches of old gothic cathedrals and monasteries, which
have been converted into manufactories. The clustered pillars and sculp-
tured stone work of these venerable structures form a strange contrast with
the bright colours of the painted machinery, the perpetual din of which
scarcely allows the spectator to muse upon the change that has taken place
since the period when the silence that reigned within these walls was only
broken by the chant of the matin and vesper anthem. Although the
machinery of the French mills is generally put in motion by water or steam
power, and the most improved English machines are introduced into them,
yet there is a most apparent difference in the manufacturing enterprise of
the inhabitants of the two countries. In the best cotton mills near Rouen
and Paris, intelligent English mechanics are generally to be found aiding or
directing the operations. In those branches of business in which the taste
of the artist contributes to the value as much as his skill, the French appear
to excel their English neighbours. This is particularly observable in the
articles of jewelry exhibited at the glittering shop windows of the Palais
Royal, and also in various branches of the silk manufacture.
'' In respect to general information the French and Flemish mechanics
appear to be deficient, their enterprise and industry having been for many
years paralysed and interrupted by the continental wars of Europe. Since
the arts of peace have gained the attention of the governments of Europe,
and been sustained by them with fostering care, the mechanical arts have
made more rapid advances. There still exists a languid indifference and
want of information in relation to the progress of improvements made in
other countries.*
* On my way from BruMels to Haerlem to view the national exhibition of the mann*
factores of Belsriam, holden mider the auapicea of the king and honoured by his pre-
siding at the distribution of the prizes, having accidentally fallen into company in a
diligence with a Flemish artist on his wav to the same place with some of his new
machines, oar oon?ersation tamed npon the subject of steam navigation, then lately
introdaoed into that country. Ho enquired if there were any steamboats in America*
and was surprised on being mformed that they had bem in sncoessfhl operation thers
342 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
" To the effecU of a republicaQ form of government existing in the United
States it may be attributed (if the writer be not blinded by a partiality for
the free institutions of his country) that a spirit of commercial enterprise
and of manufacturing interest prevail^, unequaled in any other country.
There is in the United States no ennobled order of men, and lofty pride of
ancestry, to render the manufacturer or merchant half ashamed of his pro-
fession ; and no burthensome system of taxation to depress the mechanic,
and to circumscribe his scanty means to gaining a mere subsistence. From
the habits of early life and the diffusion of knowledge by means of free
schools, there exists generally among the mechanics of New England a
vivacity in enquiring into the first principles of the science to which they
are practically devoted. They thus frequently acquire a theoretical know-
ledge of the processes of the useful arts, which the English labourers may
commonly be found to possess after a long apprenticeship and life of patient
toil. For this reason the American mechanic appears generally more prone
to invent new plans and machines than to operate upon old ones in the most
perfect manner. The English mechanic, on the contrary, confining his
attention simply to the immediate performance of the process of art to which
he is habituated from early youth, acquires wonderful dexterity and skilL
One of these labourers was pointed out to me by the proprietor of an English
manufactory as having occupied for nearly thirty years the same spot by the
side of his machine, or rather machines — the materials of brass and steel of
a succession of them having failed and worn out under his inspection. The
constant tread of his feet duriug this long period had channelled furrows in
the very floors, and every motion of his body appeared almost as mechanical
as if he had become a machine himself. Without information on any other
branch of business, such a man, when thrown out of his accustomed employ-
ment by the vicissitudes which must at times attend the affairs of a manu-
facturing as well as of a commercial people, is usually left helpless and
nearly twenty years. I took occasion to describe to him several American inventioiu,
among otliers the machine for catting and heading nails, which were completely
finished and fall off from the engine as ntt a* one can count them. The machine for
making weavers* reedt or tlaiea teemed to strike attention as a wonderful invention,
whereby the mechanism is made to draw in the flattened wire from a reel, to insert it
between the side pieces, to cut it off at the proper length, and finally to bind each dent
firmly in its place with tarred twine, accomplishing the whole operation withoat the
tasistance of the attendant, in a more perfect nuutner than can be performed by the
roost skilful hand. Although he possessed a good share of intelligence, the complicated
operations of these machines, performing processes which he supposed could only be
brought about by manual dexterity, appeared to him incomprehensible. But when I
prooeisded to describe Blanchard*s lathe in which gun stocks and shoe lasts are turned
exactly to a pattern, his belief seemed somewhat waverings and on continuing to give
him a description of Whitmore*s celebrated card machine, which draws off the card
wire from the reel, cuts it off at a proper length for the teeth, bends it into the form of
a staple, punctures the holes in the leather, and inserti« the staples of wire into the
punctures, and finally crooks the teeth to the desired form — performing all these opera,
tions with regularity without the assistance of the human hand to guide or direct it,
the credulity of my traveling companion in the diligence would extend no farther, and
he evidently began to doubt all the statements I had been making to him, manifesting
at the same time some little feeling of irritation at what he appeared to consider an
attempt to impose upon him such marvellous accounts. Uttering an emphatic humph !
he threw himself back into the comer of the diligence, and declined further conversa-
tion dnrins^ the remainder of our ride upon the subject of mechanics and of the improve-
ments made in Flemish mann&ctnres.
WAGES. 843
destitute, unable to turn his hand to other avocations. If a New England
man does not succeed in one branch of business he may commonly be found
readily essaying some other; even sometimes officiating in the profession of
the law or of medicine, after commencing his career with the labours of the
plane or anvil. It is undoubtedly true that in very many instances this
versatility is attended with a proBtless result, as in the present state of the
arts and sciences a long period of assiduous labour is required to attain skill
and experience in any branch of business. Although many valuable and
ingenious inventions in the useful arts have originated in the United States,
from which the old* as well as the new world have derived vast beneBts,
yet it cannot be denied that an incalculable loss of labour and expense in
useless experiments has been the result to most of those who have been
allured by the delusive search for new inventions and patent rights to
deviate from the beaten path. These gropings in the dark for mechanical
improvements can in no way be so successfully prevented as by opening
the eyes of the mechanic, and causing him to view and examine his schemes
more perfectly by the light of science. Some of the extensive manufac-
turers of Leeds, with a most commendable liberality, have formed small
circulating libraries for the use of the persons engaged in their establish-
ments, thus furnishing them with the means of becoming both more intelli-
gent and more virtuous. For this purpose numerous mechanics' libraries
have also been instituted throughout England, and the scholars and states-
men of that great and powerful country, with a philanthiopy for which
<^ages yet unborn shall call them blessed," have lent the sanction of their
names and the vigorous support of their talents for the general diffusion of
useful knowledge. This has been effected, too, on terms so completely
within the means of almost every labourer, that it can scarcely be said of
the mechanics of the present day, in the words of Gray,
** That knowledge to their eyes her ample page,
Rich with the spoils uf time, did ne*er unroll.*'
" England possesses a decided superiority over France and most of the
United States in the abundance of coal, and in the consequent advantages
afforded by steam power. Notwithstanding, however, the abundance of coal
found in England, and the very general use of the steam engine, water
power is highly valued in all the manufacturing districts, and mills are
erected on streams, which in many instances are sufficient to turn the water
wheels, and operate the machinery attached to them, during only a part of
the year. Among the mountains of Scotland, however, I noticed numerous
fine mill streams which remained unimproved. In Manchester, where coals
are as cheap as in most of the manufacturing districts of England, the total
cost of steam power, including all charges, amounts to about 20/. per year
for each horse power, or at the current value of the Spanish dollar, to very
near one hundred dollars per annum, as Mr. J. Dyer of Manchester stated
to me. The opportunities of obtaining information on this subject possessed
* Of late years England hat received more benefits from adoptinff improvements in
the useful arts from l^c United States, than she has imparted ; and the respectful atten-
tion of the inhabitants of that country, ** illustrious in arts and arms," is bow bestowed
on the inventive genius of Americans.
344 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
by this enterprising American, from a long residence in Manchester, and
from being engaged in an extensive branch of manufactures there, has pro-
bably enabled him to ascertain this fact with accuracy. The fuel forming
the principal part of the expense of operating steam engines, by calculating
the cost of coals in England and the United States, a comparative estimate
may be formed of the expenses attending the operation of a steam engine in
each of the two countries with a tolerable degree of correctness. In the
manufacturing districts of France near Rouen, where the most extensive
cotton and woollen mills are located, the coals used are brought principally
from the mines at Charleroi, and are nearly as dear as in the United States.
The coals exported from England to the United States are of a superior
quality to those ordinarily consumed for manufacturing purposes, and sell
at an advanced price in Liverpool of nearly four shillings per ton, or from
fourteen to fifteen shillings sterling per ton. Virginia coal is about equal
in quality to the common English coal for the purpose of operating steam
engines, and costs on the seaboard of the northern and eastern states three
times as much as the coals used in Manchester for steam engines. The
daily wages of a fireman and good engineer is nearly as high in England
as in the United States. The actual expense necessary for operating a
steam engine in England, all other things being equal, may therefore be
estimated at rather more than two fifths of what it is on the sea board of
the middle and eastern states, when coals are used for fuel ; while at Pitta-
burgh, on the contrary, from the wonderful abundance of coal, steam power
is actually available at about three-fourths of the expense required in
England. Pine wood seems to be preferred in the United States as fuel for
steamboats, from producing a ready and intense heat without being attended
with disagreeable sulphureous vapours during combustion.
^
c^y^m^^:C:^
GROWTH OF COTTON. 345
CHAPTER IX.
GROWTH OP COTTON.
Cotton, a$ repreoented by Baineg,
Sea hland cotton.
A statemfnt of the Arts and Manufactures of the United States of
America^ for the year 1810. Digested and prepared by Tench
Coxey Esquire y of Philadelphia^ 1817.
The capacity of the United States, in the country south of
Annapolis, in Maryland, to produce cotton wool, in copious and
extensive planters' crops, did not appear, in the year 1786, to have
impressed the minds of the people of our own country, even from
the thirty-first to the thirty-eighth degree of north latitude. Cir-
cumstances, in the &mily horticulture of the writer, arising among
relations resident in Talbot county, had possessed him of the in-
formation, that cotton wool was constantly and familiarly raised
there, in the little gardening of the children and domestics. It is
distinctly remembered, that these impressions of early youth had
maturlsd, in the year 1785, into pleasing convictions, that the
United States, in its extensive regions south of Anne Arundel and
Talbot, would certainly become a great cotton producing country.
This expectation was rendered the more deeply interesting, be-
cause European inventions of labour-saving machinery, for the
carding and spinning of this raw material, were known to the
writer to have occurred, though they were, at that time, very
imperfectly understood, and not possessed in the United States.
An opportunity was taken, after the convention at Annapolis,
in 1786, to examine into the opinions of persons of the highest
qualifications, and the best opportunities to judge of the grounds
of the suggested capacity for the cotton cultivation, and the con-
nected prospects of those, who might become extensive planters.
Mr. Madison was a member of the convention, and on an exami-
44
346 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL 8LATER.
nation of the suggestion of our capacity, was immediately and
decidedly of opinion, that our success would be certain and great
The opinions of the best judges, and of those of the most fre-
quent opportunities of observation, were decidedly favourable to
the future success of the United States as a cotton producing
country. In and before the year 1787, the United 'States had
never exported one bale of domestic cotton to any country : no
planter had adopted its cultivation as a crop : nor had we any of
those numerous and invaluable labour-saving machines, which
have been imported and adopted, to card, rove, spin, twist, colour,
and print. Such was the real inadvertence, on the part of the
intelligent cultivators of the south, to the natural advantages of
our soil and climate : such the unacquaintance of the ingenious
and energetic mechanicians of the whole Union with the form
and value of labour-saving machinery.*
* Cotton has been known to the world, as an aseful commmodity, ever
since the days of Herodotus ; \vho, upwards of two thousand years ago,
wrote that " Glossypium grew in India, which, instead of seed, produced
wool." Cotton clothes more of mankind than either wool, flax, hemp, or
silk. It has grown for many centuries in the East Indies. It bad been de-
clared by Dr. Hewat, in his account of South Carolina, printed in 1719, ^ that
the climate and soil of the province were favourable to the culture of
cotton." The first provincial congress in South Carolina, held in January,
1775, recommended to the inhabitants " to raise cotton," yet very little prac-
tical attention was paid to their recommendation. A small quantity only
was raised for domestic manufactures. The labour-saving machines pro-
moted, greatly promoted, the manufacture of cotton. In this culture the
Greorgians took the lead. They began to raise it, as an article of export,
soon aAer the peace of 1783. Their success recommended it to their neigh-
bours. The whole quantity exported from Carolina, in any one year, prior
to 1795, was inconsiderable, but in that year it amounted to £1,109,653.
The cultivation of it has been, ever since, increasing ; and in the first year
of the present century, eight millions of pounds were exported from South
Carolina. So much cotton is now (1809) made, in Carolina and Georgia,
that if the whole was manufactured in the United States, it would go far in
clothing a great proportion of the inhabitants of the Union ; for one labourer
can raise as much of this commodity in one season as will aflbrd the raw
material for 1,500 yards of common cloth, or a sufficiency for covering 150
persons. It has trebled the price of land suitable to its growth ; and when
the crop succeeds and the market is favourable, the annual income of those
who plant it is double to what it was before the introduction of cotton.
Nankeen cotton is cultivated, in the upper country, for domestic use. Mr.
Whitney^s saw-gin, for the separation of the wool from the seed, has facili-
tated that operation in the highest degree.
The presence of the raw material will provoke to, excite and produce the
manufacture. American cotton will produce a home manufacture. The
American will not be uncomfortable in his own cotton velvets, velverets,
corduroys, swanskins, and coXXon bVank^^ts.
GROWTH OP COTTON. 347
Calicoes, or cotton cloths, (unmixed with linen) were first exe-
cuted in England in 1772. British muslins were first made there
in 1781.
Our vast and multiplied water power (1817) unfolds itself daily.
A short canal of two miles, in the small county of Philadelphia, by
taking the water out of the river Schuylkill, has given us new sites
for 140 mills, equal to the turning of 280 mill-stones, to which
sites there is good water carriage from the ocean ! A packing
machine, invented or introduced by Mr. Perkins, formerly of
Massachusetts, is said, by the agency of a single person, to efifect a
pressure which requires the power of fifteen hundred men, and
that it can be very much increased. The whole system and
power of labour-saving machinery, used in cleaning and manu-
facturing to the extent of weaving and printing, may be considered
as forming, by steam, by water, and by wooden and metallic ma-
chinery, a vast body of gigantic automatons^ in aid of the labour of
our people, and the draughts of our cattle. Of this Herculean
corps of automatons^ one of which may work 100,000 spindles,
some of our women, our children, with a few men, and our ac-
quired artists are required, as the little fingers. We can raise
enough exportable surplus cotton for the world upon the fraction
of five millions of acres of our sugar, rice, indigo, and cotton
country. These strong assertions are no fictions. They are
familiar and irrefragable truths.
ORIGIN OF THE SEA ISLAND COTTON.
Mr, Smith,
PniLADELPHiA, December 3, 1830.
Sir, — The original of the annexed letter has been many years in my pos-
session, and was giren to me by the gentleman to whom it was addressed.
It settles the question as to the source of the Sea Island seed. For want of
knowing the native country of the Sea Island cotton, the late Caesar A.
Rodney, upon his return from the mission to South America, by Mr.
Monroe actually sent out one or two barrels of the seed to a friend ihere to
improve the staple of the article. I am, respectfully,
James Mease.
John Cowper, Esq., St, Simon\ Georgia,
Havanna, February 2, 1805.
My dear sir, — Being informed by my friend, James Hamilton, of London,
that you are the same John Cowper with whom I had the pleasure of being
acquainted, many years ago, in St. Augustine, and for whom I have an inte-
rest which the lapse of time has not done away, I beg leave, now that I
have drawn a little nearer to you, to revive our former friendship. It is
pleasing to view the rising prosperity of the land you live in, and particularly
348 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
80 too when I reflect, that one of the present sources of her riches was, in a
very great measure, derived from myself. In the year 1785, disgusted with
the Bahama Islands, I settled in Kingston, Jamaica; where, finding my
friend, Frank Levett, with his family and all his negroes, in a distressed
situation, he appliea to me for advice as to what steps he should take, having
no employment for his slaves. I advised him to go to Georgia, and settle
in some of the out islands and plant provisions, until something better turned
up. Being well acquainted with Sapelo, I recommended that island. He
could not, he said, bear to live in that country, but as many of his friends
were settled in the Bahamas, he would attempt the planting of cotton among
them. Being just from thence, I warned him against the attempt, but still
he went, and planted cotton. At length, in a doleful letter, he acknowledged
himself a convert to my opinion, having found things exactly as I had stated
them, and resolved to go to the place I recommended, and there maintain
his negroes, until he could look about him.
Early in the year 1786, 1 sent him a large quantity of various seeds of
Jamaica, and as Mr. Moss and Col. Brown requested me to get some of the
Pernambuco cotton seed, I also sent to Mr. Levett three large sacks, of
which he made no use but by accident.*
In a letter to me in the year 1789, he said, " being in want of the sacks,
for gathering in my provisions, I shook their contents on the dung-hill, and
it happening to be a very wet season, in the spring a multitude of plants
covered the place. These I drew out, and transplanted them into two acres
of ground, and was highly gratified to find an abundant crop." This en-
couraged me to plant more. I used all my strength in cleaning and plant-
ing, and have succeeded beyond my most sanguine expectations. This year
I have every prospect of gathering twenty tons of clean cotton. I am, &c.
Patrick Walsh.
Extract. — ^^ Savannah, Dec. H, 1788. I have been this year an
adventurer, and the first that has attempted it on a large scale in
the article of cotton. Several here as well as in Carolina have
followed me, and tried the experiment : and it is likely to answer
our most sanguine expectations, samples of which I beg leave now
to send you, and request you to lay them before the Philadelphia
society for encouraging manufactures, that the quality may be
inspected into. I shall raise about 5000 pounds in the seed, from
about eight acres of land, and next year I intend to plant from
fifty to one hundred acres, if suitable encouragement is given ; the
principal difficulty that arises to us is clearing it from the seed,
which I am told they do with great dexterity and ease in Phila-
delphia with gins and machines made for that purpose. I shall
now esteem it a singular favour your procuring me one of those
gins, and I will thankfully pay whatever the cost of it may be. I
* Plaster of Paris was introduced near Philadelphia, and its effects disco-
vered hy accident.
GROWTH OF COTTON. 349
am told they make them, that will clean from thirty to forty
pounds clear cotton in a day, and upon a very simple construc-
tion. It would be the interest of the planter to sell it in the seed
for the following reasons : in the winter we can employ our ser-
vants in cutting lumber, ditching and clearing land. Secondly,
they are as handy and dexterous at any kind of machinery in
cleaning it as white people. With you, labour is cheap, people
are numerous, and ginning of cotton can be done within doors in
winter when no other work can be done. I am directed by
Captain Kerby to apply to Mr. Wetherill or General Mifflin of
Philadelphia, who are members of the society for encouraging
manufactures. But as I am unacquainted with those gentlemen,
I beg leave to do it through you and request you to lay the samples
of the cotton I send you before them. I shall be glad to know
what quantity would sell and what price it will fetch in the seed,
and what price clean. If suitable encouragement is given, I have
not the smallest doubt but that this state will be able to furnish all
that will be necessary for the manufactures of the northern states.
The lands in the southern parts of this state are admirably adapted
to the raising of this commodity. The climate is so mild so far
to the south, scarce any winter to be felt, and another grand
advantage, whites can be employed. The labour is not severe
attending it, not more than raising Indian corn, it is planted on
high land, and thrives the best near the salt water. I shall be
glad to receive any information or instructions from time to time,
and will cheerfully conmiunicate any further discoveries or experi-
ments I make in the planting or raising a raw material of so much
magnitude to the manufacturing interests of America." [From
Richard Teake, Savannah, to Thomas Proctor, Philadelphia.]
Whitney's cotton gin. — {See cut in next page,)
Eu Whitney was born at Westborough, Worcester county, Mass. Dec.
8th, 1763. The paternal ancestors of Mr. Whitney emigrated from England
among the early settlers of Massachusetts.
Indications of Whitney's mechanical genius were developed at a very
early age. Of his passion for such employments, his sister gives the follow-
ing account. Our father had a workshop and sometimes made wheels of
different kinds, and chairs. He had a variety of tools and a lathe for turn-
ing posts. This gave my brother an opportunity for learning the use of
tools when very young. He lost no time, but as he could handle tools he
was always making something in the shop, and seemed not to like working
on the farm.
His father once enquired what Eli had been doing, he being about twelve
years of age ; the answer was, " He Juu been making a JiddleJ^ " I fear,''
said his father, " he will have to take his portion in fiddles."
MEMOIR OP SAHtlBL SLATKR.
After this he wu employed to repair violins, which he alwsya did to the
Mtisfactioii of bis employen. He look occasion once to take his fathet'i
watch to piecei, sod put it together without being detected. He made
knive* or any thing he attempted ; alio nail*. He manifested a fondDesi
for figures and an uncommon aptitude for arithmetical calculations. By hii
own personal exertion he prepared himself foi the freshmao ctaas in Yale
college, which he entered in May, 1789. He finished bis education with
little expense lu his father. The propensity of Mr. Whitney to mechanical
inventions and occupations was frequently apparent during his residence at
college. On a particular occasion, one of the tutors happening to meotioD
■ome interesting philosophical experiment, regretted he could not exhibit ii
■o his pupils, because the apparatus was out of order and must be sent abroad
to be repaired. Mr. Whitney proposed to undertake the XBtk, and performed
it greatly to the satisfactioa of the faculty of the college.
Soon after Mr. Whitney took his degree, in the autumn of 1792, he
entered into an engagement with a Mr. B. of Georgia, lo reside in his familf
as a private teacher. On his way hither he was so fortunate as to have the
company of Mrs. Green, the widow of General Green, who with her family
was returning to Savannah, after spending the summer at the north. Mr.
Whitney bad scarcely set hit foot in Georgia before he was met by a disap-
pointment, which was an earnest of that long series of events which, with
scarcely an exception, attended all his future negoeiations in the tame slate.
On bis arrival he was informed that Mr. B. had employed another teacher,
tearing Whitney entirely without resources or friends, except those he had
GROWTH OF COTTON. 351
made in the family of General Green. In these henevolent people, however,
his case excited much interest, and Mrs. Green kindly said to him, " My
young friend, make my house your home and pursue what studies you
please." He accordingly commenced the study of the law under that hos-
pitable roof.
Mr. Whitney made Mrs. Green a tambour frame ; not long after this inci-
dent, a party of gentlemen came from Augusta and the upper country to
Tisit the family of General Green, principally officers who had served under
the general in the revolutionary war.
Among the number were Migor Beman, Major Forsyth, and Major
PendletoQ. They conversed on the state of agriculture among them and
expressed great regret that there was no means of cleaning the green seed
cotton, or separating it from its teed, since all the lands which were
nnsuitable for cultivation of rice, would yield large crops of cotton. But
until ingenuity could devise a machine which would greatly facilitate the
process of cleaning, it was in vain to think of raising cotton for market.
Separating one pound of the clean staple from the seed was a day's work
for a woman.
While the company were engaged in this conversation, '* Gentlemen,"
said Mrs. Green, " apply to my young friend, Mr. Whitney, he can make any
thing." Upon which she conducted them into another room and showed
them her tambour frame, and a number of toys which Mr. Whitney had made
or repmired for the children. She then introduced them to Mr. Whitney
himself, extolling his genius, and commended him to their notice and friend-
ship. He modestly disclaimed all pretensions to mechanical genius, and
that he had never seen either cotton or cotton deed in his life. A new turn
was now given to Whitney's views. It being out of season for cotton in the
seed, he went to Savannah, and searched among the warehouses and boats
until he found a small parcel of it. This he carried home and communi-
cated his intentions to Mr. Miller, who warmly encouraged him, and assigned
him a room in the basement of the house, where he set himself to work,
with such rude materials and instruments as a Greorgia plantation at that
time afforded. With these resources he made tools better suited to his pur-
pose, and drew his own wire, (of which the teeth of the early gins were
made) an article which was not then to be found in the market of Savannah.
Mrs. Green and Mr. Miller were the only persons who knew in what way
he was employing himself. The many hours he spent in his mysterious
pursuits afforded matter of great curiosity and often raillery, to the younger
members of the family.
Near the close of the winter, the machine was so nearly complete as to
leave no doubt of its success. Mrs. Green was eager to communicate to
her numerous friends the knowledge of this important invention, peculiarly
important, because then the market was glutted with all those articles
which were suited to the climate of Georgia, and nothing could be found to
give occupation to the negroes, and support of the white inhabitants. This
opened suddenly to the planters boundless resources of wealth, and rendered
the occupations of the slaves less unhealthy and less laborious than they
were before.
Mrs. Green invited to her house gentlemen from different parts of the
state, and on the next day after they had assembled, she conducted them to
352 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
a temporary building, which had been erected for the machine, and they
saw with astonishment and delight, that more cotton could be separated
from the seed in one day by the labour of a single hand, than could be done
in the former manner in the space of many months.
Mr. Whitney might now have indulged in bright reveries of foitune and
fame, but his inventive genius was tempered with an unusual share of the
calm considerate qualities of the financier. He felt reluctant even to apply
for a patent, foreseeing many difficulties and expenses that must arise. Nor
did he like to relinquish the profession of the law.
The individual who contributed much to incite him to persevere in the
undertaking was Phineas Miller, Esq. Mr. Miller was a native of Con-
necticut and a graduate of Yale college. He married the widow of General
Green. He had considerable funds at command, and proposed to Mr.
Whitney to become his joint adventurer, and to be at the whole expense of
maturing the machine until it should be patented.
If the machine should succeed in its operation, the parties agreed, under
legal formalities, that the profits and advantages arising, as well as all pri-
vileges and emoluments to be derived from patenting, making, vending,
and working the same, should be mutually and equally shared between them.
This instrument bears date May 27, 1793, and immediately afterwards they
commenced business under the firm of Miller &, Whitney. An invention so
important to the agricultural interests, (as it has proved to every department
of human industry) could not long remain a secret. The knowledge of it
soon spread through the state, and so great was the excitement on the sub-
ject that multitudes of persons came from all quarters of the state to see the
machine ; but it was not deemed safe to gratify their curiosity until the
patent right had been obtained.
But 80 determined were some of the people to obtain this treasure that
neither law nor justice could restrain them, they broke open the building by
night and carried away the machine. In this way the public became pos-
sessed of the invention ; and before Mr. Whitney could complete his model
and secure his patent, a number of machines were in successful operation,
constructed with some slight deviation from the original, with the hope of
evading the penalty for violating the patent right. Mr. Whitney repaired
to Connecticut, where as far as possible he was to perfect the machine,
obtain a patent, and manufacture and ship for Georgia such a number of
machines as would supply the demand.
On the 20th of June, 1793, Mr. Whitney presented his petition for a patent
to Mr. Jefferson, then secretary of state ; but the prevalence of the yellow
fever in Philadelphia, which was then the seat of government, prevented
his conducting the business relative to the patent until several months
afterwards. Mr. Whitney made oath to the invention, before the notary
public of the city of New Haven, on the 20th of October, 1793. The impor-
tunity of Mr. Miller's letters urging Mr. Whitney to repair to Georgia,
evinces how eager the Georgia planters were to enter the new field of enter-
prise which the genius of Whitney had laid open to them. In 1794, they
borrowed money at 5 per cent, premium, besides the lawful interest ; but as
they wanted more funds they could not obtain them short of 20 per cent,
premium. Sickness and other casualties prevented the business from being
profitable, besides the perplexities and anxieties which the inventor incurred.
GROWTH OF COTTON.
353
In March, 1795, in the midst of perplexities and discouragemenls, with
the fever and ague, Mr. Whitney went to New York on business, and was
detained there three weeks by his sickness. As soon as he was able to leave
the house, he embarked on board a packet for New Haven. On his arrival
at this place, he was suffering under one of those chills which precede the
fever. As was usual on the arrival of the packet, people came on board to
welcome their friends and to exchange salutations, when Mr. Whitney was
informed that on the preceding day his shop with all his machines and
papers had been consumed by fire ! Thus suddenly was he reduced to
absolute bankruptcy, having debts to the amount of four thousand dollars
without any means of making payment. Mr. Whitney, however, had not a
spirit to despond under difficulties and disappointments, but was by them
excited to still more vigorous efforts ,* Mr. Miller, also, on hearing of this
catastrophe, manifested a kindred spirit. While struggling with these mul-
tiplied misfortunes, intelligence was received from England, which threat-
ened to give a final blow to all their hopes. It was, that the English
manufacturers condemned the cotton cleaned by their machines, on the
ground that the staple was greatly injured. On the receipt of this intelli-
gence, Mr. Miller writes as follows: — "This stroke of misfortune is much
heavier than that of the fire, unless the impression is immediately removed.
For, with that which now governs the public mind on this subject, our
patent would be worth little or nothing. Every one is afraid of the cotton.
Not a purchaser in Savannah will pay full price for it. Even the merchants
with whom I have made a contract for purchasing, begin to part with their
money reluctantly. The trespassers on our right begin to laugh at our
suits, and several of the most active men are now putting up the roller gin^
and what is to the last degree vexing, many prefer their cotton to ours."
In 1796, Miller and Whitney had thirty gins at eight different places
in the state of Georgia, some of which were carried on by horses or oxen,
and some by water. A number of these were standing still for the want of
means of supplying them. The company had also invested about ten thou-
sand dollars in real estate, which was suited only to the purposes of ginning
cotton. All things now conspired to threaten them with deep insolvency.
Mr. Miller writes : " A few moments are only allowed me to tell you that
the industry of our opponents is daily increasing, and that prejudices appear
to be rapidly extending themselves in London against our cotton. Hasten
to London, if you return immediately; our fortune, our all, depends upon it.
— The process of patent ginning is now quite at a stand. I hear nothing of
it except the condolence of a few real friends, who express their regrets that
so promising an invention should have entirely failed." Mr. Whitney was
on the eve of departing for England, whither he was going with the view of
learning the certainty of the prejudices which were so currently reported to
be entertained in England against the cotton cleaned by the patent gin, and
the rumour of which was so industriously circulated throughout the southern
papers, and should he find those prejudices to exist, firmly believing, as the
event has shown, that they were utterly unfounded, he hoped to be able to
remove them, by challenging the most rigorous trials.
He had several times fixed on the day of his departure, and on one occa-
sion had actually engaged his passage and taken leave of some of his friends.
45
354 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
But he was in each case thwarted hy an unexpected disappointment in re-
gard to the funds necessary to defray the expenses of the voyage.
However brighter prospects seemed now to be opening upon them, from
the more favourable reports that were made respecting the quality of their
cotton. Respectable manufacturers both at home and abroad gave favourable
certificates, and retailing merchants sought for the cotton cleaned by Whit-
ney's gin, because it was greatly preferred by their customers, to any other
in the market. This favourable turn in public opinion would have restored
prosperity to the company had not the encroachments on their patent right
become so extensive as almost to annihilate its value.
Mr. Miller writes May 11, 1797. " The event of our first patent suit after
all our exertions made in such a variety of ways has gone against us. The
preposterous custom of trying civil causes of this intricacy and magnitude
by a common jury, together with the imperfection of the patent law, fim-
trated all our views, and disappointed expectations which had become rery
sanguine. Thus after four years of assiduous labour, fatigue, and difficulty,
we are again set afloat by a new and unexpected obstacle."
Great efiforts were made to obtain trial in a second suit in May 1798, when
a great number of witnesses were called, from various parts of the country,
one hundred miles from Savannah, at the regular session, but no judge ap-
peared. In consequence of the failure of the first suit, and such a procrasti-
nation of the second, the encroachments on the patent right had been
prodigiously multiplied, so as almost entirely to destroy the business of the
patentees.
In April 1799, Mr. Miller writes. " The prospect of making any thing
by the gin in this state, is at an end. Surreptitious gins are erected in every
part of the country, and the jurymen at Augusta have come to an under-
standing among themselves, that they will never give a cause in our favoar
let the merits of the case be as they may."
Russel Goodrich, Esq. traveled through Georgia, for the purpose of collect-
ing what was due Miller and Whitney for patent rights, but in consequence
of evasions under different dishonourable pretences, he was unable to obtain
money enough from all these claims to pay bis travelling expenses.
The legislature of South Carolina, offered Messrs. Miller and Whitney
fifty thousand dollars, which was accepted.
In Dec. 1S02, Mr. Whitney negotiated a sale of his patent right with the
state of North Carolina. The legislature laid a tax to be continued &^9
years, to be collected by the sheriffs in the same manner as the public taxes,
and after deducting the expenses, the avails were faithfully paid over to the
patentees. A similar negotiation was made with the state of Tennessee.
The importance of the machine began to be universally acknowledged in
that state, and various public meetings of the citizens were held, in which
were adopted resolutions strongly in favour of a public contract with
Miller & Whitney. Of one of those meetings General Jackson was chair-
maD. South Carolina annulled their contract under various pretences.
In consequence of extraordinary proceedings of the legislature of Georgia,
Tennessee suspended the payment of their tax.
That Mr. Whitney felt very keenly in regard to the severities practised
towards him, is evident from the remonstrance which he presented to the
legislature.
GROWTH OF COTTON. 366
The subscriber sajrs "he respectfully solicits permission to represent to the
legislature of South Carolina, that he conceiTes himself to have been treated
with unreasonable severity, in the measures recently taken against him, by
and under their immediate direction. He holds that to be seized and dragged
«to prison without being allowed to be heard in answer lo the charge against,
and indeed without the exhibition of any specific charge, is a direct viola-
tion of the common right of every citizen of a free government ; that the
power in this case is all on one side, that whatever may be the issue of the
process now instituted against him, he must in any case be subjected to great
expense and extreme hardships, and that he considers the tribunal before
which he is holden to appear to be wholly incompetent to decide, definitely,
existing disputes between the state and Miller & Whitney. The subscriber
avers that he has manifested no other than a disposition to fulfil all the sti-
pulations entered into with the state of South Carolina with punctuality and
good faith. And he begs leave to observe further, that to have industriously,
laboriously, and exclusively, devoted many years of the prime of his life to
the improvement of a machine, from which the citizens of South Carolina
have already realised immense profits, which is worth to them millions, and
from which their posterity to the latest generation must continue to derive
the most important benefits ; and in return, to be treated as a felon, a swind-
ler, and a villain, has 3tung him to the very soul. And when he considers
that this cruel persecotion it inflicted by the very persons who are enjoying
these great benefits, and expressly for the purpose of preventing his ever
deriving the least advantage from his own labour, the acuteness of his
feelings is altogether inexpressible. This machine enables one man to
perform the work of a thousand."
Mr. Whitney's application to congress to prolong the time of his patent
was rejected.
In a correspondence with Robert Fulton, Mr. Whitney observes : " The
difficulties with which I have to contend, have originated principally in the
want of a disposition in mankind to do justice. It was not interference with
any thing before known, and it can seldom happen that an invention or im-
provement is so strongly marked and can be so clearly and specifically
identified, and I have always believed that I should have no difficulty in
causing my right to be respected if it had been less valuable and been used
only by a small portion of the community. But the use of this machine
being immensely profitable to almost every planter in the cotton districts,
all were interested in trespassing on the patent right, and each kept the other
in countenance. Demagogues made themselves popular by misrepresenta-
tion and unfounded clamour both against the right and against the law made
for its protection. Hence there arose associations and combinations to op-
pose both. At one time but few men in Qeorgia dared to come into court
and testify to the most simple facts within their knowledge relative to the
use of the new machine. In one instance, I had great difficulty in proving
that the machine had been used in Georgia, although at the same moment,
there were three separate sets of this machinery in motion within fifty yards
of the building in which the court sat, and so near that the rattling of the
wheel was distinctly heard on the steps of the court house."
The most remarkable trait in the character of Mr. Whitney, aside from
his inventive powers, was his perseverance; and this is the more remarkable.
356 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
because it is so common to find men of great powers of much actual in-
vention deficient in this quality. One who knew him from early life says,
" I have reflected often and much upon Mr. Whitney's character, and it has
been a delightful study to me. I wish I had time to bring fully to view that
particular excellence of mind, perseverance — in which he excelled all men
that I have ever heard of."
The growing of cotton in the southern states was an original
idea in the mind of Tench Coxe, who always said that the manu-
facture of a redundant staple must be the foundation of commerce
and manufactures. Thus, laying agriculture in its proper place,
as the basis for maim factu res and commerce to build on ; and not
allowing it to be dependent on contingencies.
Mr. Coxe was an harbinger of light on this subject : he urged
the subject with a force and energy peculiar to himself; always
stating, most explicitly, that America was destitute of a redundant
staple. England had long nursed their growth of wool ; and it
was their staple, the importance of which their Chancellor was
ever to remember by his seat on the woolsack. America has now
produced an article which has superseded the wool staple of
England. Great Britain buys our cotton, manufactures it, and
spreads her fabrics to all parts of the world. America, herself,
needs no importation of cotton : she manufactures her own re-
dundant staple, which no contingencies can deprive her of. Before
a field of cotton was planted, and while we had nothing to manu-
facture, but were obliged to import even the raw material for
their incipient measures in experiments of manufacture, Tench
Coxe, with the eye of a political economist, who understood the
true means of the wealth of nations, knew that the growth of cot-
ton would enrich the south; that it would give vigour and energy
to the north ; and that both east and west would be mutually
interested in the unity of agriculture, commerce, and manu&c^
tures. . These unite all the vast resources which are combined in
the vast capabilities of various climes, and of the inmiense variety
of the industry, skill, and enterprise of mankind. These so
operate as to work into each other's hands, so that no department
of labour shall be lost, and that all the skill and mechanism,
all the improvement in machinery and science shall be brought
into full operation.
The writings now extant of Tench Coxe, prove, emphatically,
that these were his great and enlightened views as a statesman,
who was advocating principles that were to be the foundation of
new empires ; and of ameliorating the condition of mankind. It
is not saying too much when we claim for him the appellation of
GROWTH OP COTTON. 367
the Father of the growth of cotton in Amtrica. It was his constant
theme ; there was an enthusiasm on this subject, that those inferior
beings who were unacquainted with his sources of vision, were
astonished at. His views reached into future prospects ; he saw,
in vision, from his enlarged principles and his correct calculations,
what we now see in reality : — America increasing the number of
her states ; the federal government, loaded with surplus funds in
the treasury ; immense cities rising in every direction ; peace and
abundance enjoyed in the wide extended empire, and each depart-
ment of enterprise, manifesting that each is beneficial to the other,
and that the prosperity of agriculture adds to the increase of both
manufactures and commerce. Legitimate objects of commerce are
to transport the surplus produce of agriculture, and manufactured
productions, to such parts of the world as present a market, and
to bring back such articles as cannot be produced at home.
" Until the revolution in the cultivation of cotton, by which it
was converted, through the strenuous excitements of the friend of
manufactures, from a petty object in little fields and gardens, into
an extensive cultivation among the planters and farmers, there
was no redundant raw material for the manufacture of cloths and
stuffs, for apparel and furniture, in the United States. There is
at this time no other redundant raw material. The green seed
cotton was the best adapted to the general quality and situation,
and to the climate of the southern states. But its cultivation,
though perfectly pleasant and easy, was very much restrained by
the extraordinary difficulty of separating it from the seeds. This
operation required so much manual industry as greatly to impede
the manufacture ; and, of course, for the time, to prevent an exten- ^
sive cultivation. In the year 1793 the invaluable saw gin wasV jLr^
invented by a citizen of the United States, Mr. Whitney, and was
so improved and perfected as to render it easy to separate the seed
from one hundred millions of pounds weight of cotton wool, by
the employment of three or four hundred persons ; although it is
alleged that it would require three hundred thousand persons to
effect the same by hand. Mr. Whitney states the difference be-
tween its operation in common hands, and the ordinary manual
operation, at one thousand to one. By the employment of this
machinery, every vicinity can easily and expeditiously prepare its
cotton for the manufacturing cards, and that in the aggregate, to
any extent that the world could require, were it to clothe itself
entirely in cotton manufactures. Thus has there been added, by
our own invention, to the machinery, to facilitate the manufacture
of a staple production of our soil, a single improvenaent, move^^
u
358 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
by water, steam, cattle, or hand ; which has let loose those immense
powers of agriculture to produce cotton wool, that were before
declined.-' The above remarks of Tench Coxe are only specimens
of those enlightened and enlarged ideas which were original with
him; and as he knew them to be based upon unchangeable
maxims, he indulged the discussion of them with an ardour and
impetuosity of feeling, chastened with profound reasoning, that
silenced those whose severity of feeling prevented their sound
conviction. He never rested till the work was completed, and he
lived to see the American staple preferred in the cotton markets,
before the growth of any other country in the world. It has been
proved, indubitably, that the adaptation of climate and soil was as
decided as he declared it to be, before a bale of cotton had been
shipped from Charleston.*
Tench Coxe appears to have inherited the tedents and enter-
prise and even the peculiar turn of mind of his paternal grand-
father, the first proprietor of Carolina, who in 1698, wrote of the
natural capabilities of the south :t — " Cochineal is a conmiodity of
* The increase of the new staple is insured by the triumph of science and
truth ; while the decay of the old is manifest, by the perversity of error and
despotism. The former will be extended in its influence, while the latter
will be confined within its contracted sphere.
If the ^^ wool-sack^ was a significant seat for the Chancellor of the British
Peers, to remind him of what was the great staple of the empire, the ^ cotton
bagj^* the staple of the new world, may well be held in equal remembrance
by the legislators of the Union. Every member ought to wear it, as the
girdle of his loins, emblematical of the bulwark of the agricultural, manufac-
turing, and commercial interests of the United Republics : every officer of
V the government should be clad in the productions of this superabundant
^ article, from the crowns of their heads to the soles of their feet : and every
citizen should be enrobed with it in life, and shrouded in it in death. It
was protected, in its infancy, by the administration of Washington, and it
has proved, in its youth, the defence of the '^ beauty and booty^^ of every
section of the country.
t The American branch of the family of Coxe, — The first ancestor of the
Coxe family connected with America was Dr. Daniel Coxe, who was phy-
sician to the queen of Charles II., King of England, and also to Q,ueen
Anne. He was the principal proprietor of the soil of West Jersey, and sole
proprietor of the government, he having held the office of governor, to him
and his for ever. At the request of Q,ueen Anne he surrendered the govern
ment to the crown retaining the other proprietory rights.f A member of the
Coxe family was always appointed by the crown, while there was a resident
member in the province, a member of the royal council of New Jersey until
t This document is extant in an old folio edition of Laws of New Jersey, which I
taw tome years since.
GROWTH OF COTTON. 369
great value, very necessary as the world goes, and costs England
great sums of money, which may all be saved, there being in the
prouince sufficient to furnish both us and our neighbours.
^' Silk is a commodity of great use in England for many manu-
factures, it being imported from France, Italy, Sicily, Turkey and
the East Indies; and there is no foreign commodity which ex-
hausts more of our treasure. This province abounds with forests
of mulberry trees, both white and red ; a considerable quantity of
silk may be here produced. It hath been tried in South Carolina,
by Sir Nathaniel Johnson and others, and might be turned to great
account. I would advise an imitation of the Chinese, who sow
the mulberry seeds as we do pot-herbs, and to mow those of one
year's growth for the young silk worms, the leaves being short and
tender, fit food for them when first hatched ; and the second for
them when in their infancy; when grown strong they may be
supplied with leaves from the trees, which method secures them
from disease, which they are liable to when fed, from the begin-
ning, with great rank leaves.
" Hemp and fax are very conunon in this country ; sufficient to
aapply the British market. Besides we have a silk grass, which
makes very pretty stufifs, such as comes from the East Indies,
the revolution. (See Smith's History of New Jersey for an account of this
gentleman, called the great proprietor, &c, : also of his son Colonel Daniel
Coze, the first ancestor who resided in America.)
Dr. Coze was also sole proprietor of the extensive province of Carolana,*
an account of which is extant, in an octavo volume, written by his son,
Colonel Daniel Coxe, called the " History of Carolana ;" a copy of which
will be found in the library of congress, the Philadelphia library, and the
Athenaeum of Philadelphia.
Colonel Coxe intermarried with Sarah, the only child of John Eckley, a
Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and left issue : among others,
William Coxe, who married Mary, the daughter of Tench Francis, Attorney
General of the province of Pennsylvania. Tench Coxe was the son of this
William and Mary Coxe, and was bom in Philadelphia, 22d May, 1755,
and died 17th July, 1824.
The charter was, in the extent of territory and powers, the most exten-
sive ever granted by the crown to a subject, &c. : the family was, therefore,
obliged to release it to the crown in consideration of a mandamua of the
king conferring 100,000 acres of land in New York. Dr. Coxe was also a
large proprietor in Pennsylvania, and nearly all the American provinces.
To his eldest son, Colonel Daniel Coxe, he gave all his American posses-
sions, and this gentleman was the first of the family who resided in
America. He arrived in America in 1709. (See Smith's History of New
Jersey.
* CarUaiM^-^ThM was the original name, and ought to have been so sptUed in the
previcHii mention of the province.
360 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
which they call lurba stuffs, whereof a garment was made for
dueen Elizabeth, whose ingredient came from Sir Walter Raleigh's
colony, by him called Virginia, now North Carolina, a part of this
proviucer, which, to encourage colonies and plantations, she was
pleased to wear for divers weeks. Excellent timber, turpentine,
and every thing suitable for building ships. Iron, potash, materials
for dyeing, such as logwood, campeachy wood, and many others,
fusticks, &c. A valuable shrub called quassia, drank as a tea.
Saltpetre, copper in abundance, lead in great quantities, with
various metals and minerals, including both gold and silver."*
DIFFERENT GROWTHS OF COTTON. — FROM BAINES.
Cotton is now so extensively manufactured into a great variety
of different quaUties of cloth, that a short account of the various
descriptions imported into the British market, with a few remarks
* ^^ The plant of which indico is made, is very frequent in most of the
southern parts of this country, and may possibly produce better than that
made in our islands of Jamaica, <&c. This province being in the same lati-
tude wiih Agra and Byana, territories in the great mogul's country, whose
indico is accounted the best of its kind in the world, and is double the price
of ours. It is easily made, and the Indians may be assisting to us herein, if
we think ^t to undertake it. Besides, if we believe that judicious natural
historian Hernando, there is in Mexico, and consequently here (being much
the same climate) a plant or little shrub, which produces an indico abun-
dantly more noble, and the colour more lively, than that which is the com-
mon indico. This the Spaniards call Azul, as being like Ultramarine.
'^ Ambergris or grey amber, is often/ound upon this coast from the cape of
Florida to Mexico, which is of great value. The best, (for there are divers
sorts,) is of equal worth to its weight in gold. This is agreed upon by the
learned, to be a bitumen or naptha, which coipes from certain springs or
fountains, that empty themselves into the sea, and is coagulated by the salt
water, as succinum commonly called amber, from another sort of bitumen
or naptha, and in storms cast upon the coast. The same ambergris is also
found upon the east side of the cape or peninsula of Florida, the Bahama
islands, in the East Indies, and Brazil, and sometimes great lumps, even
upon the coast of Cornwall and Ireland. And among others, I have read of
a piece weighing eighty pounds, cast upon the coast of Cornwall, in the
reign of King Charles I., which was bigger, till diminished by the country-
man who found it, by greasing his cart wheels and boots, but discovered
accidentally by an intelligent gentleman, who, riding by one of his carts,
and perceiving a very grateful smell, enquired of the man whence it pro-
ceeded ', he told him he had found a nasty grease upon the shore, which be
hoped would have saved him the expense of kitchen stuff and tar for carts,
harness, and boots, but it was of so poisonous a smell, that they were not
able to endure it. The gentleman desiring to see the remainder, found it
what he expected, purchased it at a very easy rate, presented it unto the
queen, and was requited in places or employments fai beyond the value of
it, — Cba^e^a Carolana^
GROWTH OP COTTON. 361
Upon their qualities, — the estimation in which they are generally
held by manufacturers, — the countries where they are cultivated,
&c,j may, perhaps, not be uninteresting to managers, carding and
spinning masters, and to those interested in its manu&cture/
Cotton is generally distinguishad by its colour, and the length,
strength, and fineness of its fibres. There are many varieties of
* Mr. Woodbury's letter on the culture and manufacture of cotton, is a
bright exposition of the present state of the business ; it transcends all
possible conceptions of those who first conceived the project of raising cot-
ton in the United States. Tench Coxe was ardent and sanguinary in bis
hopes and prospects on this subject, but he lived to see his expectations more
than realised ; we have lived to see what appeared incredible twenty years
ago. America, who imported all her cotton for manufactuie in 1791, at
the present time raises and exports more than all the world besides ; and the
manufacturing nations of Europe are absolutely dependent on America for
this staple. Not only is the business capable of an immense increase, but
of important improvements ; a finer article can be produced, such as will
demand in Great Britain one dollar per pound.
The nankeen cotton can be raised of a finer fibre than in China ; and a
fabric of the nankeen yarn, mixed with silk, can be manufactured superior
to any thing of the kind that has ever yet appeared either in Asia or Europe.
This new article is worthy of the nicest attention, and I must press the
subject, both on the growers of cotton, and the manufacturer, to cherish its
cultivation and its use ; an article which will be purely American, and which
cannot be superseded in Europe for want of the raw material ; nor in China,
because they are destitute of machinery.
The immense amount of capital invested in the growth and manufacture
of cotton, and the number of people employed in the business, renders it a
subject of great importance. It must proceed and it must increase, and
measures must be adopted to regulate the system, consistent with freedom
and good morals. We cannot neglect this with impunity ; and the whole
community are interested in the course to be adopted and pursued, in relation
to this business. Industry and talent must be called into exercise to promote
the best possible order in the establishments and plantations, such as shall
be satisfactory to the parties concerned ; for there must be no variance, no
discord, in an operation in which all are interested, and in which the pros-
perity of the whole of America is deeply involved.
Mr. Woodbury's letter has made a great impression; sixteen thousand
copies have been published by congress ; and I presume few persons were
aware of the rapid and unparalleled increase of the exportation of cotton in
the short space of twenty years. The number of persons employed, both
in the culture and manufacture of cotton, calls for the consideration of the
wise and good, of the various communities concerned ; and instead of re-
criminating each other, let both exert themselves to remove whatever posi-
tive evils exist.
The labour necessary for the culture of cotton, is attended with less
danger of affecting the health of the labourers, than either the culture of rice
or tobacco ; the cotton plantations therefore produce an amelioration of the
condition of those employed ; it is better than sugar, or any other article
raised in southern climates ; and hopes may be m^^^ oti >^otA ^^tw-
362 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
cotton, their names being principally derived from the countries
where they are cultivated. Also, under each general name, there
are various denominations, distinguished by the particular pro-
vince or district of the country where they are grown. In the
following short account of the different descriptions, each kind is
classed under the name of the country in which it is cultivated.
Smyrna fVooL The cotton wool known by the above name,
was formerly imported from the Levant, in quantities proportioned
to the then trifling demand. At one time, it was the only cotton
wool to be met with, excepting a few bags occasionally imported
from the West Indies. Although it has a soft silky appearance,
yet it is neither well fitted to endure the necessary operations in
being manufactured into yam, nor does it, when finished, make
an article either of strength, beauty or durability. Only a small
quantity is now imported, and is used chiefly for making candle*
wick, being inflammable in a higher degree than any other kind
of cotton.
East India Cotton includes Surat, Bengal, Madras, BourboOi
&c. The latter takes its name from the Isle of Bourbon, in the
Indian ocean, where it is cultivated. It is generally a very supe-
rior cotton, both for strength and fineness, although short in the
staple. For a number of years it was the only cotton used for
spinning yams of the finest quality, until superseded by Sea
Island cotton, which is now found even superior to it. The
other kinds of East India cotton are of very low quality. They
have a fine glossy and silky appearance, yet are extremely short
in the staple, and used only for spinning the lowest numbers of
yam. The imports have been on the increase for a number of
years back, but especially since the partial opening of the trade to
India; and it is supposed that the quantity cultivated might be
greatly increased, and the quality improved, were it not for those
impolitic regulations established under the East India monopoly
siderations, that an increase of happiness will be the consequence of the
introduction of the cotton seed.
It is Tain to expect to eradicate all evils from human society ; circum-
stances must be adapted, so to contend with the evil, that good may have
the pre-eminence; and where truth, justice, benevolence, and mercy, are
predominant, ignorance, wretchedness, and vice, will be treated in a manner
the most conducive to the peace and support of society. There must be an
agreement of feeling on these subjects, as there is necessarily an accord-
ance of interest.
This sensitiveness of feeling between the south and the north is very
much to be regretted, and ought, seriously, to be avoided ; and we trust
every thing will be done to allay all excitement of this kind, which, with-
ooCjNrecaotion, it liable to f loduce the most dangeroos consequences to this
GROWTH OF COTTON. 863
for securing the revenue, &c. Hitherto East India cottons have
generally been bought at the lowest prices in the British market|
a proof of the low estimation in which they are held by manu&c-
turers. But a new kind of cotton has lately been imported from
Madras, said to have been raised from the same seed as the Sea
Island. It is a fine white soft wool, having a silky or glossy
appearance, very clean, and equal, if not superior in quality, to
the Pernambuco, but rather short in the staple. It is much infe-
rior to the Sea Island, but brings a much higher price than the
common Madras cotton.
fVesl India Cotton takes its name from those numerous islands,
where it is still cultivated to a considerable extent, although the
quantity imported into Great Britain is not now one fourth of what
it was about fifteen or twenty years ago. In 1813 and 1814 the
imports amounted to 73,219, and 74,800 packages ; but since that
period they have been gradually decreasing. In 1830 and 1831,
the imports amounted only to 11,721 and 11,304; yet notwith-
standing the great falling off in the quantity imported, in price, it
ranks with Upland and the common and middling quaUties of New
Orleans. This wool is various in its qualities, but in general, it
is a strong coarse article, irregular in the staple, and well adapted
for the manufacture of the stouter fabrics of cloth to which it is
mostly applied, but it is totally unfit for finer goods. It is said
tfiat the finest quality of cotton ever brought to the English market,
or probably ever grown, was raised in one of the West India
Islands, viz. Tobago, upon the estate of Mr. Bobley, between the
years 1789 and 1792. That gentleman carried the cultivation oi ^
this article to some extent ; but the price of cotton falling very ^
low, and the growing of sugar becoming more profitable, in con-
sequence of the destruction of the sugar plantations in the French
islands, he was induced to convert his cotton plantation into a
sugar one ; and the production of cotton of this description was
never attempted by any other person, though it is believed that
the price it would command would amply repay the expense of
growing it. The growth of cotton deserves attention so as to
raise it in its greatest perfection, for lace and cambrics of the finest
texture.
South American Cotton includes that imported from Brazils and
Guiana. Brazil cottons are distinguished by the names of Per-
nambuco, Maranham, Bahia, Para, &c., according to the districts
where they are grown. That which is known by the name of
Pernambuco, is of a fine rich cream colour, and of superior
quality. It long had the reputation of being superior to any
\
364 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
imported, the Bourbon and Sea Island excepted. In quality,
Pernambuco ranks with Egyptian ; the latter is finer, but very
irregular. Maranham^ Bahia, and Para wools partake much of
the same general description, but are inferior both in strength and
cleanness to the Pernambuco. The imports of cotton wool from
the Brazils have been remarkably steady for a long period. They
seem, indeed, to have undergone little or no variation these twenty
years past. In 1830 and 1831, the imports amounted to 191,468
and 168,288 packages, or 33,889,836 and 29,766,9761bs. The
cotton imported from the coast of Guiana is distinguished by the
the name of Demerara cotton, is a strong glossy wool, pretty long,
though unequal in the fibre, and generally well cleaned and picked
before it is packed. It makes a clean stout thread, and is frequently
used for fine wefts, or warps of a moderate fineness ; it is rather
coarse, however, for the finest qualities of either. It is usually
classed with the Berbice, but the latter is considered rather inferior.
In price and quality they rank with Egyptian and Pernambuco
wools. Essequibo is something similar to those mentioned, but
inferior. Cayenne cotton is not much imported ; it is like the
Demerara, a clean wool, but very hard in the staple, which makes
it difficult to card and spin.
Surinam resembles the Demerara and Berbice in appearance,
but is inferior, both in strength and fineness, and similar to the
Essequibo ; both of them are considered to be pretty much on a
level in quality with the West India wools. The imports, con-
sumption, &c. of Demerara and Berbice, Surinam, and other
cottons from Guiana, have been on the decrease for some years
back. The imports in 1830 and 1831 amounted to 1263 and
811 packages or 395,319 and 253,8431bs.
The first cotton imported into the English market from Egypt
was in the year 1823. Since that period it has been annually
imported in considerable quantities, amounting, on an average, to
about 6,593,0731bs. It is a very superior wool, of a yellowish
colour, not so fine and silky as the Sea Island, but ranks next to
it in price and quality. It is irregular in staple, and slovenly got
up ; but no description of cotton loses less after passing through
the operation of carding, and it incorporates freely with cotton of
a shorter staple, such as New Orleans, Maranham. Bahia, &c.
The best qualities of this wool are generally used by manufac-
turers for yarn of superior quality.
Cotton from the United States. Previous to the year 1790, North
America did not supply England with a single pound weight of
cotton ; it was only after the termination of the American war
GROWTH OP COTTON. 365
that cotton began to be cultivated in Carolina and Geor^a, and
it has succeeded so well, that it now forms one of the staple pro-
ductions of the United States. But that which was first imported
into the EngUsh market was very imperfectly cleaned, and, in
consequence, was for some time used only for spinning low num-
bers. It was soon perceived, however, that the cotton grown
upon the coast, termed Sea Island cotton, had a finer and longer
staple than that which was produced farther up the country, and
known by the name of Upland cotton. But some years elapsed
before it was ascertained to be of a quality in every respect supe-
rior to that which was brought from the Isle of Bourbon, the only
cotton then used for the finest qualities of yarn, but which now is
entirely superseded by the former.
American cotton is generally distinguished by the names of
Sea Island, Upland, New Orleans, Alabama, Tennessee, &c.
Sea Island cotton is the finest that is imported into this country,
or, indeed, that is known, and takes its name from being grown
upon small sandy islands contiguous to the shores of Georgia and
. Carolina, and on the low grounds bordering on the sea. The
principal of these islands are situated between Charleston and
Savannah. It is a fine silky cotton, having a yellowish tinge,
both long and strong in the staple, and used only for spinning the
* finest qualities of yarn, or for a superior quality of power loom
warps. But its qualities differ so much, that the finest specimens
are often more than double the price of the inferior sorts. Its
close vicinity to the sea exposes it to the inclemencies of the
weather, by which it is often injured, consequently that which is
thus damaged sells at a much lower price than the better kinds of
it. Upland cotton is a difierent species from Sea Island, and is
grown in Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia ; and
for a considerable time the cultivation was confined to these states.
As the planting extended to the south, the quality varied in some
respects, and the cotton received the name of its place of growth ;
hence. New Orleans cotton, Alabama, &c. d^c.
That which is known in the market by the name of New
Orleans is a very superior cotton, clean, soft, and of a glossy and
silky appearance, rather short in the staple, and incorporates
freely with other cottons of a longer staple. It is grown upon the
banks of the Mississippi, and imported in great quantities into
the English market, where it ranks in price and quality about
equal to the common qualities of Brazil cottons. Alabama,
Upland, &c. rank next to New Orleans, and are soft, short, and
weak in staple. The cultivation of cotton wool is carried to a
366 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
very great extent in the United States at present. The quantities
imported into England is estimated at upwards of 230,000,0001bs.
yearly, and apparently still increasing.
Various methods of cleaning cotton have been adopted at diflFer-
ent periods. In the West Indies, and on the continent of America,
what is called the roller-gin has been long used. It consists of a
pair of fluted rollers, about five eighths of an inch in diameter,
and nine or ten inches long ; these are fitted up in a frame, and
motion being communicated to them, the cotton is passed through
between them, by which means it is separated from the seed, tlie
diameter of the rollers being so small, that the gins, when whole,
cannot be drawn in between them. This is but a slow method,
and therefore expensive, consequently used only for the best qua-
lities of cotton. Switching the cotton was tried, but disapproved
of by manufacturers, as tending greatly to injure it.
The cotton, called Bowed Georgia, takes its name from a mode
of cleaning cotton, long in use. This was performed by means
of the bow-string, which, being raised by the hand and suddenly
let go, struck upon the cotton with great force, and thereby served
both to separate the gins and open the cotton, so as to render it
more fit for the processes that follow. But this mode, whatever
advantages it might possess in point of quality, has been abandoned
for others better adapted for quantity ; and what is called Bowed
Georgia has, for a long time, in reality, been cleaned by a ma-
chine denominated a saw-gin. This machine consists of a cylin-
der about the size of a weaver's beam, and teeth cut out like a
saw, at equal distances from each other, from which it derives its
name. Instead of these saws, the machine originally had wires
like card teeth, but these having been found to make what is called
white naps upon the cotton, the former was substituted in their
place. The saws pull the cotton through a grating which has its
openings so narrow that the seeds cannot get through. The gra-
ting being a little inclined to the horizon, cotton is thrown upon it
by the negro attending the machine, when the teeth of the saws
take hold of it and pull it through the openings, whilst the gins,
being pressed out, roll down the surface of the grating, and
escape by an opening in the side of the machine. By the centri-
fugal force of the cylinder, the roller is thrown backwards, aided
by another cylinder covered with brushes, for cleaning the teeth.
This machine, though not very injurious to the cotton of a short
staple, yet is seldom used for the finest Sea Island, or any other
that is very long in the fibres. It is worthy of remark, that when
the Upland Georgia cotton was first brought to the English market.
GROWTH OF COTTON. 367
it yielded a higher price by about two pence per pound when it
was cleaned by the roller-gin ; but contrary to all expectation, the
saw-gin is found much better adapted for cleaning this species of
cotton than the other, and what is done by it is preferred by those
who understand spinning. The saws separate the gins more
effectually than the rollers, and at the same time give it a kind of
teaseling, which is found highly beneficial to it.
The cultivation of cotton is by no means a difficult operation.*
It is planted very much as corn is planted, in March, and the early
part of April, (depending of course upon the relative northern or
southern situation of the land) and kept free from weeds through
the summer, by constant ploughing and hoeing. In its early
stage it resembles, when seen at a little distance, what are called
bunch beans^ growing in hills or rows. In the fall it is picked out
of the opening pods by slaves, who go along with a basket and
gather all that they can pick out. This is a tedious mode of get-
ting the cotton from the husk or pod that contains it. When it is
gathered into the cotton house, then comes the work of cleaning it
of the seeds, by means of the gin. This is a simple operation.
The cotton passes between a revolving cylinder (with teeth in
* Extrcict from Moaea Bravm'a letter to J, S. Dexter.
Providence, Nov. 15, 1791.
"When it is considered that cotton, the raw material, may be raised in
the United States, it shows that legislative attention should be paid to this
subject. The cotton raised at present, in the southern states, is as imperfect
as oar manufactured goods. This, I presume, is owing to the promiscuous
gathering, and saving of the article, from the pods in which it grows, some
of which, like fruit on a tree, are fair and full grown, while others are not.
In the picking of these, and in taking the cotton out of the pods, care should
be taken that it be kept separate, and the thin membrane, which lines the
pod, and sometimes comes off with the cotton, should be separated, and the
clean, full grown, preserved to work on the machines ; the other will answer
to work by hand. But as the cotton must be clean before it works well on
the card, the present production, in the mixed manner in which it is brought
to market, does not answer a good purpose. The unripe, short, and dirty
part, being enveloped with that which would be good, if separated properly
at first, so spoils the whole as to discourage the use of it in the machines,
and obliges the manufacturer to have his supply from the West Indies,
under the charge of the impost, rather than work our own production. A
circumstance truly mortifying to those, who from motives of promoting the
produce and manufactures of our own country, as well as from interest,
have been at much expense and trouble to promote so desirable an object.
I, therefore, beg leave to suggest the idea of some encouragement to the
raising and saving of cotton, clean and fit for the manufacturers."
Moses Brown told me that, for the above reasons, Mr. Slater could not be
induced to use the American cotton.
368 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
circular rims of iron,) and a grate ; by which the seeds are sepa-
rated from the fine fibres of the cotton. It is next pressed into
bales by a machine somewhat like a cider-press, and is then ready
for market. A few good hands will cultivate several acres. From
one to two bales, sometimes three, is the produce of an acre of
good land in this state. The price of cotton lands is various, —
from $10 or $20 to $40 per acre ; according to quality, situation,
buildings, and machinery on the premises. The above prices
refer to the state of Mississippi.
To Whiiemarah B. Seabraok, Esq., Corresponding secretary of the
Agricultural Society of St, John's, Colleton,
Sulllivan's Island, Sept. 1st, 1826.
Dear Sir, — Your useful circular has been received. I answer with plea-
sure your queries. Permit me to assure you, if I had the good fortune to
possess any information, not generally known, upon the culture of the cotton
plant or its preparation for market, nothing could afford me more satisfaction
than to disclose it for the benefit of others. A planter who would, from
interested motives, conceal any discoveries which might improve the culture
or the preparation for sale of any of our staple products, must certainly be
deficient in that patriotism and liberal feeling which, at least, are supposed
to govern every gentleman in this community.
Question 1. Is all your cotton equally fine ? If not, what description of
your soil yields the most silky ?
Ans, I consider that the most sandy parts of my soil produce the finest
cotton and the most silky.
Q. 2. What manure do you esteem the best to improve the fineness of
the staple?
Ans, I have never used any but the soft salt mud ; it is taken out of the
creek during winter and spread in the old alleys with the back of the hoe,
about two inches thick in the lowest spots; and in the most sandy not more
than a quarter of an inch. The land is then listed over the mud before it
becomes hard. I have never manured more than eighty-five acres in one
winter.
Q. 3. Is your cotton which is so distinguished for one quality, remarkable
also for the length and strength of its staple, or both ?
Ans. As machinery is the only test for fine cottons, allow me to give
you an extract of a letter, addressed to me from one of the most respectable
spinners in Manchester. " Although your cotton is second to no brand in
health and fineness, still it does not possess sufficiently the latter requisite
to spin our finest numbers."
Q. 4. What has been your average crop for the last five years, and what
quantity do you plant to the hand ?
Ans. I have never made more than 1501bs. to the acre, and plant very
short to the hand, in consequence of not having a sufficient quantity of land.
Q. 5. Are you very particular in the selection of your seed, and which
kind do you prefer, the small or the large, the perfectly clean, or that which
is a little woolly.
GROWTH or COTTOH. 860
Ans. I select that which has a little wool at the ead, bat am not satisfied
as to the adv^antage of it.
Q. 6. Have yoa evei tested the experiment on the difference of the pro-
duct and quality of cotton, from seed taken from the bottom, middle or top of
the stalk?
Aru. Never.
Q. 7. How do yon prescrre your seed ? Is it in a confined situation, or
in a well ventilated room ?
Ans. It is kept in a loft over my gin honse, without any aperture to admit
air.
Q. &. In gathering your crop, do you erer pick the wool from those pods
tbat from their immaturity are bat imperfectly open 1
Ans. Never.
Q. 9. Do you dry your cotton in the sun or in the shade ? If in the snn,
how long ?
Ans. 1 always dry in the sun, and suffered it, until the last year, to remain
on the cotton scaffold the greater part of the day.
Q. 10. What is your mode of prepaimtion, and what quantity do you clean
to the hand per day 1
Ans. I require the cotton to be picked carefully from the pods, without
leaves or dirt of any kind, and am Tery particular in the assorting before it
goes to the gins. I give SSlbs. as a task in moting.
Q. 11. Are you in the habit of using the whipper before or after the cotton
is ginned, or in both instances ?
Ans, I use the whipper only for the cotton which is picked after frost,
and for the stained ; the operation is performed before it goes to the gins.
Q. 12. What is the character of your soil ? Is your land high or low,
indented with creeks, and how far from the ocean ?
Ans. I hare both high and low land in the same fields ; while sand in the
highest, and grey soil in the lowest. There are no creeks running into the
fields; the distance from the ocean varies from a quarter to a half mile.
Yours respectfully,
E. VANDEttBOBST.
St. Helbka, December 26, 1826.
Sir, — It would afford me much satisfaction could my limited experience
enable me to throw a ray of light on the subject embraced in your queries.
The replies to them you will accept more as matters of opinion than coo*
elusions founded on definite practice.
Q. 1. Is all your cotton equally fine, 6lc.
Ans. I think not, but I have never heard purchasers remark any difference
when I have separated the high from the low land. I prefer the cotton on
the most sandy high hills, it being more productive and silky.
Q. 2. What manure do you esteem the best ?
Ans. I have generally lued the marsh mud taken from the creeks ; some-
times green marsh.
Q. 3. Is your cotton so distinguished for one quality, remarkable for
others, <lc.
Ans. My cotton derives its character from its silkiness, strength, and
evenness of fibre.
47
370 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
Q. 4. What has been your average crop for the last fire years 1 and what
quantity do you plant to the hand ?
Ana, Caterpillars and storms have destroyed some of my most promising
crops ; but I think about 450lbs. per hand are about the average. I generally
plant three and a half acres to the hand.
Q. 5. What kind of seed do you prefer ?
Ana, I have generally preserved the seed from my earliest picking ; some-
times I have planted seed exchanged with my friends both north and south.
I think the cotton produced from the seed with a green tuft, the finest and
most silky, though not the most productive. The finest I have seen, was
from seed covered entirely with a green woolly coat.
Q. 6. Have you ever tested the experiment on the difference of the pro-
duct and quality from seed taken from the bottom, middle, or top of the
stalk?
Ana. I have not.
Q. 7. How do you preserve your seed ?
An8. I am not particular, so that it is kept dry.
Q. 8. Do you in gathering your crop pick those pods which, from their
immaturity, are perfectly open ?
An», My orders are to pass over defective pods, to save the trouble of
selecting them when assorting ; but, from the difficulty of seeing these exe-
cuted, I presume they are much neglected, especially after a frost. We
generally dry our cotton on a scafibld, unless it has been wet. I handle it
as little as possible after it comes from the gin. We use the whipper, before
the cotton goes to the gin, but not after.
Q. 9. What is your soil and situation?
Arts. High and low, mostly high ; a yellow mixed sand on the hills, and
black or grey in the narrow valleys, which run N.E. and S.W. through the
extent of the island. I am on a neck of land, two sides of which are bounded
by creeks, and one side by the ocean. I have once used a machine-^n from
St. Simon's Island, to the rollers of which, made of hickory, I gave as many
as six hundred revolutions in a minute. I ginned about twenty bales of
cotton with this gin, and heard no complaint about the staple being injured ;
but my negroes continually putting it out of order, and my impelling power
proving defective, I laid it aside. I introduce this remark, hoping that the
want of a gin, as well adapted to the Sea Island cotton, as Whitney's saw
gin is to the upland, may stimulate some of our planters in their exertions
to procure one. Thomas Aston Coffw.
John's Island, St John's, Colleton, Oct. 4th, 1S26.
If any thing I may communicate will add but one idea to the general
stock of useful knowledge already possessed by the agricultural community,
I shall be gratiOed in being instrumental in promoting that object.
1st. The cotton raised by me is all fine, but not equally so. I apprehend
some shade of diflerence in the cotton of every field will be a certain result
where there is any diversity of soil; or, while any inequality of strength in
the land exists. I have hitherto believed that high, light, rich soils produce
the finest cotton ; but I have not yet tested this opinion by repeated or satis-
factory experiments to decide whether I am correct or not.
2d. In difierent parts of my fields, as most convenient, I have used fresh
GROWTH OP COTTON. 371
mud, salt mud, salt marsh, rashes, leares, and rotten wood, and composts of
the four latter with cow dung ; applied in proportion to the natural strength
of the land, and to the fertilising qualities of the manure ; from twenty-one
to eighty-four single horse can loads per acre, so as to give health and
vigour to the plants, and equalise their growth as nearly as possible. I ani
best pleased with the salt mud, salt marsh, and the compost of salt marsh
and rushes, combined with animal manure. They improve the length,
strength, and silky appearance of the staple in a great degree, but I am not
certain that they increase the fineness of the fibre. I have noticed that cotton
which has not arrived at full maturity from being injured by rust or frost,
will be finer but of more tender fibre than cotton produced in the same field,
fully matured, particularly on strong land.
3d. The length and strength of the staple depend chiefly on the natural
strength of the soil ; and on the application of fertilising manures, were
necessary, in order to equalise the strength of the land as much as possible ;
when this is accomplished, the cotton produced will be nearly all alike.
4th. My average crops for the last five years, have been 98 pounds per
acre ; and two and a half to three acres are usually planted to the hand.
5th. I have generally been particular in selecting from the earliest ripe
cotton, produced on the best land, the seed which has a small tuft at the
point, and that which is clean and black ; but neither of these will always
produce the same kinds of seed only ; they must be annually cleared of their
degenerated woolly associates, which sometimes produce fine long cotton ;
but generally, the staple is short or of an uneven length. I have found it a
good rule in saving all kinds of seed, to select that portion which is most
perfect and comes to maturity first The size of cotton seed varies like all
other seeds, according to the strength or poverty of the soil in which it is
produced. Its colour is also changed from black to brown, by exposure to
the sun or frost. Seed may be kept close in a room, unless it be damp.
8th. My instructions to the gatherers arc, to gather from the field, at every
picking, all the cotton, good or bad, which is blown open sufficiently to
enable them to extract the wool with ease. The reasons for being so parti-
cular are these : if the bad cotton be left to be gathered at a future period,
before the gatherers return through the field it will have become so much
bleached by the weather, that it cannot then be readily distinguished from
the good, either by them or by the hands who afterwards sort it for the gins ;
and, if ginned with the good, the extreme weakness of its fibre will depre-
ciate the value of the general crop in proportion to the quantity of it which
may be mixed with the good.
9th. My directions given, are, to dry the cotton in the sun, only so much
as will be necessary to prevent the seed being crushed by the rollers. This
mast be varied according to the state of the weather, and the condition in
which the cotton is gathered from the field. When the weather is dry, if
the gatherers go out after the dew has evaporated, the cotton is exposed to
the sun on the sheets as fast as gathered, then spread in the house until the
next day ; then on the scafibld for five or six hours ; and again spread in the
house a few hours, to let the heat fly ofi^ before it is packed away ; I have
found it sufficiently dry for the gins. If packed away damp, it will gene-
rate heat in a short time, rain the fibre, and unfit the seed for planting. I
prefer drying in the shade altogether, when practicable. One thing we are
372 MEBIOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
ture of, the less cotton is exposed to the air, and the closer it is packed, the
better it is. We think that exposure to the air is prejudicial, by drying the
natural moisture of the fibre. Cotton dried before the fire becomes brittle
and tender, and we doubt whether if damped again, it ever regains its natnni
strength.
10th. The gatheiers commence their labour after the exsiccation of the
dew; at every emptying of their picking bags, the stained and rotten cotton
is taken out, with any leaves that may have fallen in. If the cotton has
been gathered with care from the field, one hundred weight to each labourer
may be separated with ease for the gins. The cotton is then passed through
a double dram whipper, and goes to the gins. Five to seven weight to
each gin is ginned in the evenings, or twenty-five weight of clean cotton for
a day's work. The ginners are directed not to screw more pressure on the
rollers than is necessary, to prevent the seed being crushed, ami the cotton
should be as evenly spread to the rollers as possible, to prevent injury to the
staple. The moters prepare twenty*five to thirty weight eaeh, for the bag.
One person searches for a bag of three hundred weight, if the cotton has
been cleanly moted. The sorting of the seed cotton, moting of the ginned
cotton, and searching for the packer, are all done on frames of wood, or on
coarse wire sieves reversed. The sieves I have found very convenient.
11th. I have generally used the whipper for the seed cotton only ; bat
latterly have used it for the ginned cotton also, I think with great advantage,
befoie moting, and it does no injury to the fibre, if passed through but onee.
The less fatigue the fibres are exposed to, the better ; switching, %f done in
moderation, and so as not to string the CQtton^ (which is to be apprehended
in long fine staple) is a very harmless, and we think, effective operation.
Ginning by means of rollers, if much pressure is applied, cr if the cotton is
not evenly spread, so aa to distribute the pressure equally, is dangerous ;
since pressure completely destroys the fibre. A distinguished spinner says:
*^I send you a sample of cotton, which has undergone pressure between a
pair of smooth iron rollers ; the staple is perfectly destroyed." Iron rolten
are now generally out of use in this part of the country ; but too much pres-
sure upon hard wood rollers will also do much injury.
12th. My soil is partly of a low heavy loam and sand, and partly high
brown mould and sand, and clay indented with creeks, and situate on a
large sate river, about six miles from the ocean.
Krtsct BuRnER.
In my experiments on ihe culture of this valuable staple, I have not been
as particular as other gentlemen ; relying too much on my soil and situation,
and the advantage of manure. The cotton produced at my John's Island
plantation is preferred to that of Bdisto ; and the cotton of the latter to that
of Slarm's Island. My soil at John's Island is generally grey or dark; at
Edisto, yellow: and at Slarm's Island, a tenacious loam. I am decidedly of
opinion, that gray lands produce as fine cotton as any other soil : however. I
believe it is the contiguity to the ocean that renders my cotton so fine at
John's Island. Salt mud has the preference to all other manures.
My cotton at Edisto is longer and stronger than that raised on John's
Island. At Edisto, I have averaged about IGOibs. per acre, and at John's
island, about 1201bs. Three and a half acres to the hand. Change seed
OBOWTH OF COTTON. 873
eTery second year. Th6 seed kept io a loft or room, in which there is a free
oifcalation of air. I do not pick the wool from those pods, that were bat
imperfectly open. I dry cotton in the sun one day, or until the seed can
be cracked. When my cotton is well gathered from the field, each labourer
assorts from 150 to 2001bs. in the seed. After the cotton has passed through
the whipper, I nerer use it afterwards. The quantity of ginned cotton daily
nioted to the hand is 40lbs. In ginning, from 25 to SOlbs. is the task. My
land, at John's Island, lies immediately on ihe ocean, with a bold creek run-
ning in the rear. At Edisto, it is much indented with creeks.
Wm. Seasrook, sen.
PreWoasly to breaking the land, with plough or hoe, about 120 cart loads
(A salt mudj to the acre, are placed in conyenient heaps at equal distances;
a labourer then chops and scatters it, at the rate of about 50 cart loads per
acre. The ground is then listed with a plough, drawn by a yoke of oxen,
which partially turns in the mud under the list and covers the cow-pen
manure; it is then bedded, either with the plough or hoe, in the usual man-
ner. If the plough is used both for listing and bedding, a portion of the mud
will be placed under the list, and another portion abote it ; which is the best
mode of disposing of the manure, to give support to a needy soil. I com-
mence planting about the 25th of March. The seed, without selection or
preparation, is planted in hills, about twelve inches apart, or in the drill, as
inclination suggests. The foregoing remarks apply to a tract of poor, high,
light land, in which I reside, on Edisto Island. Four acres to the hand. I
consider salt mud, as manure, highly valuable ; it has a powerful tendency
to increase the production of the cottoti plant, — to hasten its maturity, and
CO make the fibre stronger and finer ; it also gives consistency and strength
to light, weak soils. On my plantations, we cautiously prevent the exposure
of the seed to moisture. Best dried in the sun, before it is stowed in the
cotton house. I finish thinning by the 15th of June, if possible, and hoeing
about the 15th of July ; between these dates, one hauling, or two at farthest,
are fully sufficient. Cotton plants are much injured by too much nursing
with the hoe. To keep down the grass, and thin early, are of primary im-
portance. The bed should be kept very firm, to prevent, as much as possible,
heavy rains from penetrating it, and to assist it in retaining moisture during
a drought. Hauling gives the plant fresh growth, as often as repeated ; and
therefore, when resorted to late in the season, proper for hoeing, it has a
tendency to cause disease in the fruit, or to make drop at each repetition.
The bed should be hoed by drawing the hoe, obliquely, from the alley to the
top, and the grass carefully shook oS by hand. My cotton is not all equally
fine, neither can any cottons, correctly, be deemed sO. It is now ascertained
that the finer qualities of this valuable article are fast disappearing from us.
A Spinder, in Manchester, says:—" Some years ago we readily found, in the
cottons of different planters, a sufficient number of bags to spin all the fine
yarns that were required : at the present period, when the consumption of
fine yarns is doubled, we do not find, among all the cottons we examine,
one bag per annum." This deterioration of our cottons appears natural,
when we reflect, that the same eflect is produced in our gardens and
orchards^
Some of the finest cotton grew in Persia; its seed bears a strong resem-
374 MEMOIR OP SAMUEL SLATER.
blanc'e to the green seed which produces our upland cotton, it being eorered
with a green wool, similar to that. Some foreign, coarse woolly seed, hare,
after 3 or 4 years' cultivation in this country, become clean black seed, and
produced cotton of fine fibre, partially retaining its original nankeen colour.
A superior cotton to any produced on our shores, is much wanted by English
fine spinners : in 1826, a broker, in Liverpool, says : — " We have never re-
gretted the purchase of really fine cotton ; and although competition renders
it necessary for us to purchase our cotton as cheaply as possible, yet we
shall always feel a pleasure in adequately remunerating the growers of a
really superior article."
All dirt and extraneous matter should be separated from the cotton by
fanning, both before and after grinning. My lands are surrounded by rivers
and creeks, and are contiguous to the ocean. Of the soil planted in cotton,
one portion is alluvial, and the othet is light, high, and sandy. 1 use the
Virginia Cotton Planter.
John R. Matbewes.
Answer to Question 1st, — There is a slight difiference in its texture, the
most fertile, sandy soil, producing the finest staple.
A, to Q. 2d. — The use of manures in Alabama, of any kind, are but seldom
tried on lands cultivated in cotton. But I think half rotted cotton seed gives
greater activity to the growth of vegetation, (for one or two years,) than any
other manure that can generally be obtained ; and, consequently, produces
an article of some superiority in texture. The third question I do not con-
sider as applicable to any other than Sea Island.
A. to Q. Ath, — The average crop, through the state, might be set down at
about 800 lbs. of seed cotton per acre ; but many make from 1500 to 1800
pounds. It is customary to plant from seven to twelve acres, in cotton, to
the hand.
A, to Q. 5th, — We make no selection of the seed we grow, but are par-
ticular to change them from one section of country to another, every three
or four years. The principal object of an Alabama planter, is to plant of
that kind of seed of which he can .gather the most in a day.
A, to Q, 6th, — I have not.
A. to Q. 7th, — The usual method of preserving seed is to have them thrown
from before the gin into an adjacent room ; secure from moisture, though
regardless of a confined, or free circulating air.
A, to Q. 8f^.— Never.
A, to Q. 9^. — The cotton gathered in the first half of the day, is usually
dried, from that time till night, on a scaifold, in the sun ; that in the latter
seldom requires drying
A. to Q, lOth, — We seldom or ever pick our cotton, but put it in the gin
as it is taken from the field. Hands gather from one to three hundred
pounds per day.
A. to Q. llth, — In neither.
A, to Q, I2th, — The character of the soil in middle Alabama is varioas.
There is the sandy soil, with oak and hickory growth ; and the sandy soil,
with nothing but pine. The prairies have a mixture of lime with their soil ;
some exceedingly stifi*, and others more loose and sandy. Their grrowth is
oak, hickory, ash, elm, blackjack, poplar, dbc. &c.
OBOWTB OF COTTOK. 375
What it kaewD with at is the little green »eed, furnishea the fineKt staple
and is the most product! Te, but being more difficult to gather, was exchanged
fer the Mexican, it being found that the seed degenerates that is grown on
the same land for a succession of four or fire yean, and that it becomes sub-
ject to the disease known as the rot in cotton ; which oRen destroys from
tn eighth to a fourth of the crop. We now purchase our seed, erery fourth
year, from a section of country on the Red Rirer, known as the Petit Gulf.
Z. Watkiss.
The following tables are prepared from a document of the
Secretary of the Treasury, furnished by order of Congress :
Mllimt of Poundi
of Cotton grown in variout Paris.
Tua).
viX.
BHtof
AMl
OUmi
1791
490
a
23
T3
_
4fi
130
190
W
_
IMl
fan
48
.Ifi
10
45
160
IfiO
55
IS
1811
80
35
13
.085
44
170
148
57
MO
33
6
40
175
135
1B31
«20
m
38
9
IB
3R
180
11.^
35
4
IBM 900
460
30
8
25i
34
185
110
35
4
T^..|vi,,!v.C.,.
B.C«.
□«riii
^.U
Altli.
T.„B.
M»i..
LoDiii.
A*™
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
1601
s
4
an
w
1
1B11
8
7
40
40
3
3
laai
13
10
50
50
20
an
10
10
33
18
70
70
3
45
45
30
1833
13
10
73
73
IS
50
G5
70
as
01
1834
10
n
M4
6Si
30
45
85
85
Oi
Slattmmt of the number ofpoumU of Cotton exported from the U. States
to othtr places than Great Britain and France, in the year ending Sep-
ten^er 30, 1821, to 1S35, inclutive.
TMn.
To BUHla.
H.>ILBnrl
B.'l(.uni.
Bp.,n.
Ti"
Trtene.
Towni.
IWy »id
AJIolbH
iS
»,I}*.MI^
3_a33
S
ISOJ
VM^I
376 MEMOm OF BAMVUh 9LATER.
Amount of Cotton Manufactures^ at different Periods.
$ (1815) • (1628) • (18S9) • (1835)
Yearif Valoo in England, . . 95,000,000 171,000,000 144,000.000 160,500,000
France, 40,000,000 54,000,000 62,000,000
United State*, 24,000,000 .... 30,000,000 47,500,000
Capital employed in roanafketur-
ing by machinery in England, .... 309,000,000 160,000,000 185,000,000
Ditto, ditto, in France, 115,000,000 ....
Ditto, ditto, in the United Sutes, 40,000,000 .... 45,000,000 80,000,000
Capital. The capital employed in growing cotton, with the income it
yields, is a question of much interest and importance. But very little can be
found concerning it in books, and the information obtained on it from differ*
ent correspondents in the United States is defective, and is founded on
quite different data in different states and by different persons.
The elements of any computation must be, the average coet per acre of
cotton lands, wild or cleared, and if the former, the expense of clearing
them ; the amount of labour necessary per acre to produce a given quantity
of raw cotton ; the cost of labour, whether in the form of wages or other-
wise; the expense of tools, horses, &c., with salaries of overseers, taxes
paid, Ac. dbc.
One mode of making the computation is as follows : — The arerage cost
of cotton lands, when wild, in the old states, did not probably exceed often
half a dollar per acre, including fees for patents, dbc. In the new states it
has generally ranged from $1 25 to $2 per acre, depending on its quality, lo-
cation, and the price of cotton. The actual settlers, in purchasing of capital-
ists, have generally been compelled to give an advance from 50 to 100 per
cent. : sometimes much more.
The expense of clearing wild land averages from ten to fifteen dollars per
acre. Land in a condition to be cultivated, will, on an average, in the
United States, yield from 2501bs. to SOOibs. of clean cotton. In the old states,
1251bs. clean, or 5001b8. in the seed, is an ordinary crop. (Cooper's Polit.
Econ., p. 96.) Coxe, in 1810, estimated it at 138ibs. and others at 1201b8.
(Rees's Cyclop, art. "United States.")
It is believed, that one field hand or labourer, with the aid hereafter
named, can cultivate, on an average, eight acres. Some say five to seven,
and others ten. He will at the same time assist in raising five to eight acres
of corn.
It is usual to employ, in this business, slave labour, and the next element
in the calculation must be the capital invested in slaves for this purpose, and
the annual cost of their maintenance.
The price of field hands has nearly or quite doubled in ten years; and they
now often cost eight hundred or one thousand dollars, when formerly four
and five hundred dollars were the usual rate each.
The maintenance of them is another item very differently computed.—
Sometimes it is done by the purchase of more land and cultivating it, putting
stock on it, of cows, sheep, &c. ; so as, with the aid of other slaves, kept
partly for that purpose and partly for the culture of cotton, to raise corn,
pork, &c., to feed, and other materials to clothe, the whole. In such case,
the additional land put in cultivation, the additional slaves bought, and the
stock on,the plantation, &c., must be considered as so much more capital.
GROWTH OP COTTON. 377
Tlie additional slaves, in such case, being more youthfal, or more aged
ones, or infirm females, may be fairly computed at an equal number with
llie field hands, but costing only about one half the price. The additional
land should be for cultivation, about twenty acres for each field hand. The
capital, in oxen, horses, sheep, tools for husbandry, ^., about $30 to each
slave on the plantation.
To these must be added the capital which may be deemed temporary, and
not as a permanent investment, and hence is to be all yearly returned, sncb
as expense for extra clothing not made on the plantation, for medicine, over*
seers, tools for labour, taxes, freight, dtc., which may be forty-fiTe dollars to
each slave.
Differing from these last data, in some respects, in substance, and wholly
unlike in form, is another mode of computing all the capital invested except
that in the mere cotton lands. Instead of estimating the price of slaves, &c.
it may be considered that slave labour could be hired, with food, clothing,
medicine, &c., at a cost for each field hand from $100 to $120 per year.
That from $30 to $40 each would defray the annual expense of overseers,
tools, horses for each, and that the additional and equal number of slaves,
not prime field hands, could be hired and supported for less than one half of
annual cost of the others.
On these data the cotton crop, as estimated for 1835, at four hundred and
eighty millions of pounds, would grow on 1,600,000 acres at 300 lbs. per
acre, or 1,920,000 at 2501bs. each. Considering that some lands wear out
quick and are changed, probably the whole quantity cultivated for cotton in
the United States, at this time, should be estimated at two millions or moie
of acres.
From the above elements the whole capital invested in growing the cotton
crop in the United States can be readily computed. On one hypothesis,
converting the whole capital into that which is permanent, and partly in-
vested in lands, slaves, and tools, as fixed capital, and partly^nvested in
bank or other stocks, or in loans so as to yield an income, and not a capital
sufficient to defray those kind of expenses which are usually deemed tempo-
rary, and are yearly remunerated, or require what is called a circulating or
floating capital, and the whole will amount to more than $900,000,000. On
another hypothesis, considering the capital, as it generally is, divided into
fixed and circulating ; the capital as fixed, which is invested in lands, slaves,
stocks of horses, tools, &c., and only about $30,000,000 for other expenses,
as circulating or temporary, and to be itself, and not its income or interest,
used and repaid yearly, and the whole capital of both kinds will not quite
equal $800,000,000.
This last amount accords nearly with a still different mode of testing the
quantity of capital, by supposing that the whole crop of 480,000,000 lbs., at
ten cents per pound, being $48,000,000, would yield six per cent, on all the
money invested in any way in raising the crop. If the capital used was all
permanently invested, it would, on this hypothesis, amount to near eight
hundred millions of dollars ; but as from twenty-five to thirty millions of
dollars is temporarily invested, and must itself be repaid yearly, the whole
may, in the usual mode of treating of capital employed in such business, be
considered rather under than over $800,000,000.
That amount, however, has been assumed as about correct, in the table,
48
378 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
aad is near enough for the estimate and comparisoas at different periods in
this country, and at the same period between this and other conntries. In
others, as in India, Brazil, and Egypt, the cost of labour is less, and perhaps
the amount of labour performed by each hand is believed to be less, inde-
pendent of the failure there to use much the improved cotton gin.
Here, at 250 lbs. per acre as an average crop, and eight acres an avenge
cultivation by one hand, the product would be 2,000 lbs. per hand, or at ten
cents per pound, would be the average of $200 per field hand. All the
planter obtains over ten cents per pound would yield him a large rate of
interest above six per cent, to pay for the greater risk and uncertainty of
capital invested in this species of property. The whole crop of 1834 was
probably worth $75,000,000 at the actual market prices, though at ten cents
per pound only $48,000,000.
It is difficult to institute any just comparison between the profits of capital
invested here in the growing of cotton, and in the manufacture of it ; as in
the latter so much more in proportion is invested in temporary or circulating
capital to pay for wages and stock, and the whole of which is to be annually
repaid. Neither have I leisure for the details.
Indeed it might have comported better with the technical language of po-
litical economy to have divided the whole expenditures in raising cotton
into three heads, viz : labour, capital, and land ; to yield in return, wages for
the labour, profit or interest on the capital, and rent for the land. (See
Senior's Outline of Political Economy, page 165, from the Encyclopaedia
Metropolitana.) It will be easy, for those who prefer it, to throw the calcu-
lation into that form ; but the results then, would not be such as accord best
with the views proposed in this part of the table ; which are, to present
to the community here, in plain terms, and in a form as intelligible as pos-
sible to people at large, the amount of capital actually employed at different
periods in growing the cotton crop in the United States ; whether invested
in the origfnal purchase of lands, the clearing, or the culture of them ; in
the purchase of slaves, or in procuring an income for the payment, or in
the actual payment of wages of free labour to raise the crop ; for buying
seed, tools, food, raiment, horses, &c., and for payment of taxes, overseers,
or any other expense, incidental or direct, connected with the production of
the crop.
Two brief statements of a very general character are subjoined, in illas-
tration of some of the above remarks.
1st. The capital invested in cotton lands under cultivation, at two million
acres, and worth, cleared, on an average, $20 per acre, is - $40,000,000
The capital in field hands, and in other lands, stock, labour,
dec., to feed and clothe them, at $100 per year, on 340,000
in number, would require the interest or income of a capi-
tal, at six per cent, of - - - - - 554,000,000
The maintenance of 340,000 more assistants, &c., at $30
each per year, would require the income of a capital at six
per cent, of --.... 167,000,000
The capital to supply enough interest or income to pay for
tools, horses for ploughing, taxes, medicines, overseers,
&c., at $30, for the first 340,000, would be - - 167,000,000
Making in all a permanent capital, if so used, equal to $918,000,000
GROWTH OP COTTON. 379
2d. The capital in cotton lands; as stated above - - $40,000,000
Capital in the purchase of 340,000 field hands, at $800 each,
on an average, ...... 272,000,000
Capital in the other 340,000 to aid, and to raise food, clothing,
4x., at half price, -..-.- 136,000,000
Capital in horses, cattle, sheep, utensils, &c., for plantation,
i^ut $30 to each person, to aid in making food and
clothing, &C. ...... 20,400,000
Capital in other lands to support stock, raise com, &c., at 20
acres to each of the 680,000, worth $20 per acre, cleared, 272,000,000
Capital, temporary or floating, to buy clothing not made on
plantation, pay taxes, overseers, freight, tools for cotton,
dbc, $45 to each ...... 30,600,000
$771,000,000
The increase of American cotton is such, as to create the utmost astonish-
ment that our vast capacity to produce it had so long rested without notice.
The export, by the last return, was about 24 millions. The late General
Washington was a lover of agriculture, understood it well, and was not in-
attentive to fair profit in his patriotic pursuits and private business : yet he
does not appear ever to have noticed our country's capacity to produce cot-
ton. This is the more remarkable, because nearly all his landed property
was in the cotton district of the United States. No circumstance can more
strongly prove the universal inadvertency of America to her capacity to
produce cotton.
One of the beneficial effects of our present active cultivation of cotton is,
that, while it yields the greatest agricultural profit in proportion to the capi-
tal in land and stock, it has a sure tendency to diminish the quantities of
rice, tobacco, indigo, grain, and cattle raised in the cotton district of
America, and keeps up the price of those articles in a manner highly favour-
able to those who raise them. The moderate quantity of rice produced in
1801 and 1802 is a positive evidence of this profitable truth. The North
American rice is of the best class. The body of our rice planters raise but
three quarter crops or half crops, from their attention to cotton. Having
so much less to sell, the market is not glutted. The price is consequently
not low. It is favourable. The raisers of Indian com in the southem
states have also turned to cotton. Hence Indian corn and pork are every
where better supported in price, to the general benefit of our farmers. Much
com will go from counties out of the cotton district to counties in the cotton
district for sale and consumption. So of fish, and all eatables and drink-
ables.
From these circumstances it will appear, that we have an universal and
deep interest to keep up the price of cotton. Home demand ought not to be
neglected or overlooked. The cotton manufacture merits the earliest and
best attention of the Union and of the states. Scotland cannot pursue that
manufacture to as much advantage as the middle, northern and eastem
states of America. The British duty of one penny sterling is nearly two
cents per pound. The freight, insurance, storage, commissions, duty and
380 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
Other charges might be wholljr or partly saved. We might ase oar own
indigo, woad, madder, barks, and other dye stuffs, or those which we import
and n-ship to Scotland, and other parts of Europe. The Scotish mani:^c-
turers are fed with our flour and that which they import, all the charges on
which are saved so far as our own manufacturers consume our prorisioifl.
It appears to be expedient to give this great case of the cotton manufaeiwre
a complete examination and to make a luminous exhibition of it before our
country. For which purpose it is respectfully suggested to the legislatare
of the United States, and those of the several states, to give the subject in
charge (by an early reference) to the proper department of their respective
executive governments, with instructions to enquire into, examine, consider
and make report concerning the rise, progress, and present state <»f the cul-
tivation of cotton, the course of the importation and exportation thereof
since the 3d of March 1789, the course of the trade in cotton goods, since
that day, the present state of the household and regular manufactory of cot-
ton goods in the United States, and the measures which have been adopted
by the Union and by the states to encourage the same, to the end of con-
sidering what further encouragement can and ought to be given by the
govenmients to the cultivation, export, trade, and manufacture of cotton
within the United States. — T. Coxe.
CSrcunutances connected with the cotton trade, chronologicaUy arranged,
B.C. The cotton manufactures of India were taken notice of by the
Greeks when Alexander overran Greece.
A J). 1101. The measure of the ell fij^d by Henry I.
1280. The manufacture of cotton introduced into China from India*
1500. The first attempt made to introduce cotton goods into England.
1560. Giuccardini records the Low Countries to be the depot of India
goods and of cotton from the Levant.
1565w The first act of parliament relating to cotton goods.
1600. The first charter granted to the English East India company.
1631. Printed calicoes imported into England.
1640. Fustians made at Bolton.
1670. The Dutch loom first used in England.
1673. Blore in his History of Liverpool, speaks of great cotton mannfae-
tories in the adjacent parte.
1676. Calico printing first introduced into London.
1700. The manufacturing of muslins first attempted in Paisley.
1721. The weaving of India calicoes prohibited.
1725. Linens, lawns, and cambrics, first manufactured at Glasgow. Blr.
James Monteith was the first manufacturer who warped a muslin web in
Scotland.
1730. Cotton spinning attempted unsuccessfully by Mr. Wyat at Litch-
field, who spun the first thread of cotton yarn ever produced without ihe
intervention of the fingers.
1735. The cotton plant first cultivated in Surinam.
1738. Mr. Lewis Paul took out a patent for an improved mode of carding.
The fly -shuttle invented by Mr. John Kay of Bury.
QBOWTH OP COTTON. 381
1742. The first mill for spinning cotton erected at Birmingham. It was
moved by asses ; but the machinery was sold in 1743.
1750. The fly-shuttle in general use.
1756. Cotton velyets and qui kings first made.
1760. Mr. James Hargreaves applies the stock card to the carding of cot-
ton with some improvements.
1762. Cylinder cards invented. First used by the father of the late Sir
Robert Peel.
1763. Rouen was the principal market for the sale of cotton wool.
1767. The spinning jenny invented by Mr. James Hargreaves.
1769. Mr. Arkwright, aftei wards Sir Richard Arkwright, obtained his
first patent for spinning with rollers, and built his first mill at Nottingham.
1770. 5521 bags of cotton imported into Liverpool from the West Indies,
3 from New York, 4 from Virginia and Maryland, and 3 barrels from North
Carolina.
1774. Power Looms invented by the Rev. Dr. Cartwright.
1779. Cayenne, Surinam, Essequibo, Demerara, and St. Domingo cotton
most in esteem.
Mule jenny invented by Samuel Crompton.
1781. Brazil cotton first imported from Maranham, but very dirty.
1782. James Watt obtains his patent for the steam engine.
1783. Surat, and also Bourbon cotton, &rst imported or known about this
time.
1784. Arkwright's first patent expired.
Cotton manufactured in Great Britain this year was ll,280,238]bs.,
and valued at £3,950,000.
Cotton imported in small quantities from the United States.
1785. Mr. Mcintosh and Mr. Dale commenced dyeing turkey red in Glas-
gow.
1786. Bourbon cotton sold from 78. 6d. to 10s. per lb.
1793. Cotton, the growth of the United States, first imported in large
quantities, by way of the West Indies.
1797. Scutching machine, said to be invented by Mr. Snodgrass, and Mr.
Cooper, first used at Johnstone.
About this time the saw-gin was invented.
1798. The Fame arrived with the first cargo of cotton from the East
Indies.
1800 or 1801. The entire stock of American cotton in Liverpool one bag.
1803. Radclifi^s dressing and warping machine invented.
1813. Trade to British India thrown open under certain restrictions.
1818. 105 millions of yards of cotton cloth manufacted in Glasgow, value
£5,000,000.
1823. Cotton first imported from Egypt direct to Liverpool.
1825. Steam engines estimated at 893 horses' power, spinning cotton in
and around Glasgow, in a space not more than two miles from the cross.
1830. The Danforth throstle frame introduced into England.
1832. Robert Montgomery of Johnstone (Scotland) obtained a patent for
the three kingdoms for an improvement of the throstle frame, which it is
considered will supersede all the machines hitherto used for spinning low
numbeis, also for making copes. The first entire machine was accidentally
884 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
mencement, and the many discouragements attending their progress, the
directors persevered in their enterprise, and during the years 1795 and 1796^
much yarn of various sizes was spun, and several species of cotton fahries
were made. But, at length satisfied that it was hopeless to contend, suc-
cessfully, longer with an adverse current, they resolved, July 1796, to aban-
don the manufacture, and discharged their workmen. This result was
produced by a combination of causes. Nearly $50,000 had been lost, by the
failure of the parties to certain bills of exchange purchased by the company,
to buy in England plain cloths for printing: large sums had been wasted by
the engineer ; and the machinists and manufacturers imported, were yn-
sumptuous, and ignorant of many branches of the business they engaged to
conduct ; and more than all, a want of experience relative to the subject of
the enterprise, and the country unprepared for manufactures. The cocaon
mill of the company was subsequently leased to individuals) who oontinoed
to spin cmndle-wkk and coarse 3ram until 1807, when it was accidentally
b«mt« and was never rebuilt The admirable watei^power of ike company
was not, however, wholly unemployed. In 1801, a mill seat was le as e d to
Mr« Kinaey dt Co.; in 1S07 a second, and ISll, a third to other penons;
and between 18U and 1S14, several others were sold or Itmatd. In 1814,
Mr. Coll purchased, at a depreciated price, a large propovtion of the
and lennimaied the association. From this date, the growtk ^
has been steady* except dnring the three or fonr years that followed tke
of 1815. The advantages derivable from the great Ul in the river, InfC
been knproved with much jodgmenL A dam of four and n half feet hi||^
stixti^^ framed and bohed to the rock in the bed of the river abore the fi^
ima the stieam thronch a canal excavaied in the trap rock of the badk,
into a hasin« whence, thioogh strosig gsard-gaies. it Aiiy|i^Lj ia saccesM
three eanab on sef^araie planes^ earh below the other: giviag lothe milk«
csMk a h«ad and 6dl of ahoni 23 leec Br ■»■» of tke swH4-saie. lb
whNoe of water is renlaied at plcatsve. and n
avoidii^ the ia c o n ve ni c ng e of hack-water : ^tUXOCId have
peiiret this privik^.
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ADVANCEMENT OF MACHINERY. 386
CHAPTER X.
ADVANCEMENT OF MACHINERY.
** Art tbrivM moft.
Where commerce has enriched the husy coait ;
He 'catches all improTements in his flight.
Spreads foreign wonders in his country's sight.
Imports what others have invented well,
And stirs his own to match them, or excel.** — Cowper,
POWER LOOM AND DRESSER.
In 1785 the Rev. Dr. Cartwright* of Hollander house, (brother
of Major Cartwright, the well-known advocate of radical reform,)
invented a power-loom, which may be regarded as the parent of
that now in use. Dr. Cartwright was led by his invention to
* Edmand Cartwright was bom Iq 1743, in Nottinghamshire, at Marnham,
an estate which had long been in possession of his family. He was the
youngest of three brothers, all of whom were remarkable men. His second
brother, Captain William Cartwright, a man of great enterprise and energy
of character, aAer a residence of sixteen years on the coast of Labrador,
returned to England in 1792, and published his journal, which gave the first
authentic account of the Esquimaux nations. His elder brother, Major
John Cartwright, was forty years distinguished as an enthusiastic and per-
seyering advocate for what is called parliamentary reform ; and notwith-
standing the many turbulent scenes in which he appeared in public^ ia
domestic life he was exemplary as an amiable, afieetionate and benevolent
man ; as a political leader he was truly consistent, and even his enemies have
borne testimony to his being perfectly disinterested. Edmund, the younger
brother, being destined for the church, was placed under Mr. Clarke of
Wakefield, and the celebrated Dr. Langhome. He afterwards studied at
Oxford, where he was eaily distinguished for his literary attainments, and
was elected fellow of Magdalen College. On entering the church, he
retired to a small living in the gift of his family, where he discovered the
application of yeast as a remedy in putrid fevers, and became known as a
poet. His legendary tale of '^ Armine and Elvira," was greatly admired for
its pathos and elegant simplicity. His " Prince of Peace," in a loftier style
of composition, also excited much attention at its appearance. He married
in 1772, and afterwards went to reside at Doncaster, but still assiduously
continued his literary labours. Between 1774 and 1784, he was one of the
principal contiibutors to the Monthly Review.
The origin of his invention of weaving by machinery instead of manual
49
386 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
undertake manufacturing with power-looms at Doncaster ; but the
concern was unsuccessful, and he at length abandoned it.
Though he had a handsome paternal fortune, his affairs became
labour has been minutely detailed by himself, in a letter -written to Mr.
Dugald Bannatyne, of Glasgow.
'^ Happening to be at Matlock in the summer of 1784, 1 fell in company
with some gentlemen of Manchester, when the conversation turned on
Arkwright's spinning machinery. One of the company observed, that as
soon as Arkwright's patent expired, so many mills would be erected, and
80 much cotton spun, that hands never could be found to weave it. To this
observation I replied, that Arkwright must then set his wits to work to
invent a weaving machine. This brought on a conversation on the subject,
in which the Manchester gentlemen unanimously agreed, that the thing
was impracticable ; and in defence of their opinion they adduced arguments
which I certainly was incompetent to answer, or even to comprehend,
being totally ignorant of the subject, having never, at that time, seen a per-
son weave. I controverted, however, the impracticability of the thing by
remarking, that there had lately been exhibited in London an automaton
figure which played at chess ; ' now you will not assert, gentlemen,' said I,
'that it is more difficult to construct a machine that shall weave, than one
which shall make all the variety of moves which are required in that com-
plicated game V Some little time afterwards a particular circumstance
recalling this conversation to my mind, it struck me that, as in plain weav-
ing, according to the conception I then had of the business, there could be
only three movements, which were to follow each other in succession, there
would be little difficulty in producing and repealing them. Full of these
ideas, I immediately employed a carpenter and smith to carry them into
effect. As soon as the machine was finished I got a weaver to put in the
warp, which was of such materials as sail cloth is usually made of. To my
great delight, a piece of cloth, such as it was, was the produce. As 1 had
never before turned my thoughts to any thing mechanical, either in theory
or practice, nor had ever seen a loom at work or knew any thing of its con-
struction, it will readily be supposed that my first loom must have been a
most rude piece of machinery. The warp was placed perpendicularly, the
reed fell with a force of at least half a hundred weight, and the springs
which threw the shuttle were strong enough to have thrown a Congreve
rocket ; in short it required the power of two strong men to work the machine
at a slow rate only for a short time. Conceiving, in my great simplicity,
that I had accomplished all that was required, I then secured what I thought
a most valuable property, by a patent, in April 1785. This being done, I
then condescended to see how other people wove, and you will guess my
astonishment when 1 compared their easy modes of operation with mine.
Availing myself, however, of what I then saw, 1 made a loom, in its gene-
ral principles, nearly as they are now made, but it was not until the year
1787 that I completed my invention, when 1 took out my last weaving
patent in August in that year.''— This also included the art of weaving
checks, which the most skilful mechanics, even after they had seen his first
inaelunes in operation, deemed to be impossible by any except manual
ADTATiCKXENT OF M ACHIMKRT. 9B7
inextricably embarrassed ; bat he was more fortunate than most
inTentors, in obtaining from parliament, in 1809, a grant of
£10t,0U0, as a reward for his ingenuity.
The great obstacle to the snccess of the power-loom, was, that
it was necessary to stop the machine frequently, in order to dress
the warp as it unrolled from the beam, which operation required
a man to be employed for each loom, so that there was no saying
of expense. This difficulty was happily removed, by the inven-
tion of an extremely ingenious and effectual mode of dressing the
warp before it was placed in the loom.
The dressing-machine was produced by Messrs. Radclifk &,
Boss, cotton manu&cturers, of Stockport ; but they took out the
patent in the name of Thomas Johnson, of Bredbury, a weaver in
their em^doj^nent, to whose inventive talent the machine was
chiefly owing.
Wm. Radcliffe justly thought, that the most effectual way of
securing for the country the manufacturing of the yarn, was to
enable the English to excel as much in weaving as they did in
spinning. He saw the obstacles to the accomplishment of this
object, but being a man of determined purpose, he shut himself up
in his mill, on the 2d of January, 1802, with a number of
weavers, joiners, turners, and other workmen, and resolved to
produce some great improvement. Two years were spent in
experiments. He had for his assistant, Thomas Johnson, an
ingenious but dissipated 3roung man, to whom he explained what
he wanted, and whose fertile invention suggested a great variety
of expedients, so that he obtained the name of the " conjuror"
among his fellow-workmen. Johnson's genius, and Radcliffe's
judgement and perseverance, at length produced the dressing
machine ; an admirable invention, without which the power-
loom could scarcely have been rendered efficient.
The process is thus briefly described: — " The yarn is first
wound from the top upon bobbins, by a winding machine, in
which operation it is passed through water, to increase its tenacity.
means. The weaving factory which was erected at Doncaster by some of
Cartwright's friends, with his license, was unsuccessful ; and another cata-
blisiunent containing five hundred looms, built at Manchester, was destroyed
by an exasperated mob, in 1790. The invention, however, has sui mounted
all opposition, and at the time of the doctor^s death it was :>taled that steam
looms had increased so rapidly, that they were then performing the labour
of two hundred thousand men ! Cartwright's next invention was a method
to comb wool with machinery, which excited, if possible, a still greater
ferment amoog the working classes than even the power loom.
388 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
The bobbins are then put upon the warping-mill, and the web
warped from them upon a beam belonging to the dressing-firame.
From this beam, placed now in the dressing-frame, the warp is
wound upon the weaving-beam, but in its progress to it passes
through a hot dressing of starch. It is then compressed between
two rollers, to free it from the moisture it had imbibed with the
dressing, and drawn over a succession of tin cylinders heated by
steam, to dry it ; during the whole of this last part of its progress
being lightly brushed as it moves along, and fanned by rapidly
revolving fanners. The dressing here spoken of is merely a size
or paste made of flour and water, now generally used cold; and
the use of it is to make the minuce fibres, which, as it were, fea-
ther the yarn, adhere closely to it, so that the warp may be snaooth
like catgut The brushes essentially aid in smoothing the yam,
and distributing the size equally over it ; and by means of the fan
and the heated cylinders the warp is so soon dried, that it is
wound upon the beam for the loom within a very short space
after passing through the trough of paste. This machine, from
the regularity and neatqess of its motions, and its perfect efficacy,
is equally beautiful and valuable."
BadcUfle and his partner took out four patents in the years 1803
and 1804 ; two of them for a useful improvement in the loom,
the taking up of the cloth by the motion of the lathe; and the
other two for the new mode of warping and dressing. Johnson,
in whose name they were taken out, received by deed the sum of
£50 in consideration of his services, and continued in their
employment. Radclifle's unremitting devotion to the perfecting
of this apparatus, and other unfortunate circumstances, caused the
afiairs of his concern to fall into derangement, and he failed. He
wrote a book entitled, ** Origin of the New System of Manufacture,
commonly called Power-Loom Weaving," showing the purposes for
which this system was invented. •
Baines says, << The dressing machine itself has now in some
establishments been superseded, and the warp is dressed in a
shorter and simpler way by an improved siting apparatus. By
the aid of Johnson and Radcliffe's invention, the power-loom
became available. A patent for another power-looom was taken
out in 1803, by Mr. H. Horrocks, cotton manufacturer, of Stock-
port, which he further improved, and took out subsequent patents
in 1805 and 1813. Horrocks' loom is the one which has now
come into general use ; it is constructed entirely of iron, and
is a neat, compact, and simple machine, moving with great
pidity, and occupying so little space that several hundreds may
ADVANCEMENT OF MACHINERY. 389
be worked in a single room of a large factory. Horrocks, sharing
the common destiny of inventors, failed and sunk into poverty.
This retarded the adoption of the machine ; but independently of
this, the power-loom and dressing machine came very slowly into
&vour. In 1813, there were not more than one hundred of the
latter machines in England and Scotland, and 2400 of the former
in use.
The introduction of the power loom and dresser formed a new
era in the cotton business in America.
Previous to 1815, the whole of the weaving was done by hand
looms ; in many of these looms great improvements had been made
and a great quantity of cloth produced for home consumption.
About the year 1814, Mr. Gilmore landed in Boston from England
with patterns of the power loom and dresser ; and John Slater,
Esq. invited him to Smithfield, Rhode Island, and made known
his wishes to construct these important inventions ; but Mr. Slater
could not prevail on the whole of his partners to engage him in
the trial. He remained at Smithfield some time, employed as a
machinist by that establishment. He introduced the hydrostatic
press, and it proved of great advantage in pressing cloth, &c.
Judge Lyman of Providence had been endeavouring to obstruct
the power-loom, but failed in the attempt ; and on hearing of Mr.
Oilmore, he with some other gentlemen entered into a contract
with him to build the power-loom and dresser, from the patterns
which he brought with him from England. He accomplished all
that he promised, and received a compensation of $1600, to the
great satisfaction of his patrons. They were soon introduced
into Pawtucket, and David Wilkinson made them as an article of
sale. Mr. Gilmore, however, neglected to turn his talents and
opportunities to the advantage of his family, and died leaving them
poor in this country.
S. Green informed me, that Gilmore was a man of great mecha-
nical genius ; he brought the first engineer's rule into Rhode
Island, and Mr. Green obtained one from him, with a great deal of
valuable information.
The hand-looms were inmiediately superseded, and now no one
in the manufacturing districts thinks of using them any more than
they do the one-thread wheel. Their introduction has enabled
America to compete even with Great Britain in cotton cloths in
South America and other foreign markets.
This is the crowning sequel in improvements in the cotton
machinery, the addition of which has made a complete series,
perhaps the most perfect which the world ever saw, whether with
390 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
regard to the mechanical excellence of its operations or its results.
I have said that the power-loom formed a nezo era, and it is not
easy to conceive how this series can be much improved, as it
now exists in England and America.
BLEACHING AND CALENDERING.*
After the manufacture of the cloth is complete, there is the im-
portant process of bleaching to be undergone by all cotton goods;
this is a very extensive branch of the business ; it is necessary to
remove the dirt and grease contracted in the manufacture, and the
dressing applied to the warp, and also to destroy all the colour
belonging to the raw material, so as to make the cloth perfectly
white. The bleaching process, as performed in the middle of the
last century, occupied from six to eight months. " It consisted in
steeping the cloth in alkaline leys for several days, washing it
clean, and spreading it on the grass for some weeks. The steep-
ing in alkaline leys, called buckings and the bleaching on the
grass, called crofting^ were repeated alternately for five or six
times. The cloth was then steeped for some days in sour milk,
washed clean, and crofted. These processes were repeated, dimi-
nishing every time the strength of the alkaline ley, till the linen had
acquired the requisite whiteness." The art of bleaching was at that
time so little understood in Great Britain, that nearly all the linens
manufactured in Scotland were sent to Holland to bleach, and
were kept there more than half a year, undergoing, in the bleach-
fields around Haarlem, the tedious processes just described.
The grand improvement in bleaching was, in the application of
chlorine to the art. This acid was discovered in 1774, by Scheele,
the Swedish philosopher, who observed its property of destroying
vegetable colours, from its having bleached the cork of his phial.
This observation having been recorded, suggested to the active
mind of the French chemist, BerthoUet, the thought of applying
the acid to the bleaching of cloths made of vegetable fibres ; and,
in 1785, having found by experiment that it answered the purpose,
he made known this great discovery, which brings down the time
♦Bleaching, calendering, &c. were introduced at a great expense, in Pro-
vidence, by Dr. Bowen, where the water is well adapted, and there is now a
bleaching and beetling establishment, called by his name. The bleaching
business is now very extensive in the United States, and they are becoming
more perfect in the process, as more attention is paid to every department in
preparation fpr the calico printing.
Rhode Island appears to be in advance in the bleaching busines;;, both for
the quality and quantity of its work.
ADVANCEMENT OF MACHINERY. 391
required for bleaching from months to days, or even to hours.
James Watt learnt this at Paris, and introduced it into England
in 1786.
Mr. Henry was one of the first persons to suggest the addition
of lime, which takes away the noxious smell of the oxymuriatic
acid without injuring its bleaching properties.
So great was the facility thus given to the process of bleaching,
that it is recorded that a bleacher, in Lancashire, received fourteen
hundred pieces of grey muslin on a Tuesday, which, on the
Thursday immediately following, were returned, bleached, to the
manu&icturers, at the distance of sixteen miles ; and they were
packed up and sent off, that very day, to a foreign market. This
is considered as not an extraordinary performance. Without this
wonderful saving of time and capital, the quantity of cotton goods
now manufactured could scarcely have been bleached.
Mr. Tennant, *' after a great deal of most laborious and acute
investigation," hit upon the method of making a saturated liquid
of chloride of lime, which was found to answer perfectly all the
purposes of the bleacher.
Mr. Tennant uses five and a half parts of black oxide of man-
ganese, seven and a half parts of common salt, and twelve and a
quarter parts of sulphuric acid, of the specific gravity of 1.843,
diluted with an equal quantity of water to make the chlorine gas,
with which he impregnates a layer of slacked lime, some inches
thick, in a stone chamber. By recent improvements in the manu-
facture, he has doubled the value of the bleaching powder, whilst
its price is reduced to one half; the present price is 3d. sterling
per pound. By many bleachers this powder is used, mixed with
a proper quantity of water ; but the great bleachers use liquid
chloride of lime, which they make in leaden stills ; steam being
used to expel the gas from the materials, — and the gas being re-
ceived into a cream of lime, which becomes saturated with it.
The processes through which cottons pass in the hands of the
bleacher, are as follows : — The cloth is first singed, by being drawn
rapidly over a copper or iron cylinder heated to a red heat, which
bums off the down and loose fibres on the surface, without injuring
the fabric. It is next thrown, in loose folds, into a cistern of cold
water, where it remains some time; and it is afterwards more
effectually washed by being put into a large hollow wheel, called
the dash-wheel, usually divided into four compartments; this is
supplied with a jet of clear spring water, thrown in through a
circular sht in the side, which revolves opposite the end of a fat-
tened pipe, by which means the cloUi is well washed, as it is
392 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
thrown backwards and forwards in the rapidly-revolving wheel.
By this means a considerable portion of the weaver's dressing
is removed. Next, the cloth is boiled with lime : the pieces of
calico are placed in a kier, or boiler having a &lse bottooii perfo-
rated with holes, and with layers of cream of lime between the
pieces ; one pound of lime being used for every thirty-five pounds
of the cloth. It is so contrived, that the boiling water is spouted
on the goods, filters through them and the lime into that part of
the boiler below the false bottom ; is again forced up a pipe in the
middle of the boiler, and falls again upon the goods : and this pro-
cess is repeated for about eight hours. By this lime boiling the
dressing, dirt, and grease, are removed from the cloth ; and the
lime itself is removed by a careful washing in the dash-wheel.
The cloth is now subjected to the action of the bleaching liquid;
that is, chloride of lime dissolved in water.
A solution of one pound of bleaching powder with one gallon
of water, has a specific gravity of 1.05 ; but water is added till the
solution is reduced to the specific gravity of 1.02. The quantity
of this liquor used for 7001bs. of cloth is 971 gallons ; and SSSlbs.
of the solid bleaching powder is required for 7001bs. of cloth. The
goods are left in the cold bleaching liquid about six hours, and
when taken out they arc considerably whitened. Having been
washed, the cloth is next put into a very weak solution of sulphuric
acid, containing eight gallons of the acid in 200 gallons of water.
This is called the souring process, which lasts about four hours.
By this the oxide of iron, which, in the course of the operations,
has been deposited on the cloth, giving it a yellowish hue, and
the lime which it had imbibed, are removed, and the cloth becomes
much whiter. It is again washed in cold water, and then boiled
for eight hours more in an alkaline ley. Sixty-four pounds of
carbonate of soda are used to 2,1001bs. of unbleached cloth. After
this the cloth is steeped a second time in the bleaching liquid,
which is only two-thirds of the strength of the first, where it re-
mains 5 or 6 hours ; and a second time in the mixture of sulphuric
acid and water, where it remains 4 hours. The last souring process
completes the bleaching of the cloth, which comes out of the acid so-
lution perfectly white. The cloth is then very carefully washed,
to remove all trace of the sulphuric acid and water : it is freed from
the greater part of the water by being squeezed between two rollers,
and is then straightened and mangled in the damp state. To
improve the appearance of the cloth, it is usually passed through
starch made of wheaten flour, often mixed with porcelain clay and
calcined sulphurate of lime ; by which the cloth is made stiffer,
CALENDERING. 393
and appears to have great substance. (It would be creditable to
the trade to lay this aside, as having the appearance of fraud.)
The cloth is dried by being passed through a drying machiue,
consisting of several copper cylinders heated by steam : it is then
again damped, in order to fit it to receive the gloss which is im-
parted in the process of calendering.*
The calender consists of several wooden and iron rollers, placed
above each other in a frame, and held together by levers and
pulleys ; the cloth, passing between these rollers, is strongly pressed ;
the surface becomes glossy, and sometimes it is made to assume a
wiry appearance by two pieces being put through the calender
together, in which case the threads of each are impressed on the
face of the other. The goods are then folded up in pieces,^ stamf)ed
with marks varying according to the foreign or domestic markets
for which they are intended, and pressed in a Bramah's press ;
after which they are packed up and sent to the merchant.
* On Mangling Cloths, — The busiDess of smoothiDg cloths, as usually
practised in the United States, is a very serious one in a warm day, and
many females have laid the foundation for an attack of acute disease, and
protracted ill-health, by fatigue and imprudent exposure to a current of air
after being much heated by a hard day's duty. To remedy these evils,
mangles have been invented. There are but few families in Europe with-
out one of these useful machines, by which the numerous articles having
plain, smooth surfaces, are smoothed with expedition, and acquire a gloss
which cannot be given by flat irons. The following is the best.
Two horizontal cylindrical rollers form a bed for the roller on which the
linen to be mangled is rolled. The axes of those rollers bear on brass, let
into the wood frame, and have a wheel fixed to each, which works in a
pinion on the axis of the fly-wheel : a moveable roller on which the linen to
be mangled is rolled : a roller, the axis of which works in pieces of brass,
which slide between iron, let into the inner side of the wood frame, to the
bottom of which long pieces of iron are fixed, with hooks at their lower ex-
tremities, to which are attached ti.e chains that support the scale or platform,
where iron weights, or any other substance, are placed ; to the top of the
brass in which the roller works, the engine chains are fastened, which pass
through apertures at each end of the top of the wood frame, and are there
again fastened on the pulleys of the shaft with a screw : there is a lever fixed
to the end of the shaft. To use the machine, press the lever, and fasten it
with the hook, which raises the roller with the platform and weights at-
tached to it : then take out the roller, and roll the linen and mangling cloth
round it, and replace it on the two bottom rollers, unhook the lever, and the
weights on the platform will press the roller on the other ; give motion to
the fly-wheel and also to all the rollers by turning the handle, which, in a
sliort time, will make the linen beautifully smooth; press down the lever,
fasten it with the hook, and take the roller out: a spare roller is supplied, so
that if two people are employed, one may be filling it with linen, while the
other is mangling.
50
394 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
Such are the processes by which the rough, gray afid dirty
fabric brought in by the wearer, is converted into the smooth and
snowy cloth ready for the hands of the seamstress. The pro-
cesses vary a little in duration and frequency, according to the
quality of the cloth to be bleached. Every thing is done by ma-
chinery or by chemical agents, and the large bleach-works require
steam engines of considerable power. Human hands only convey
the cloth from process to process. There is much beauty in many
of the operations ; and great skill is needed in the mere disposi-
tion of the several cisterns and machines, so that the goods may
pass through the processes with the smallest expenditure of time.
Large capital has been expended on many of the bleach-works;
an extraordinary perfection has been attained in the machinery,
and in all the details of the arrangements strict method and order
prevail ; the managers are men of science, who are eager to adopt
every chemical and mechanical improvement that may occur to
themselves or others. The processes above described can be per-
formed in two or three days, at the cost of a half-penny per yard,
on cloth bleached and finished.
A perfect understanding of the bleaching business is essential
to success ; great quantities of cloth were destroyed in the process,
by those who first made the experiment in this country ; and evea
now great care is necessary lo prevent the fabrics being injured ;
but this, like every other branch of manufacture, is becoming more
perfect, and is carried on with greater economy and order, and all
which is essential to success. My limits forbid enlai^ement, which,
for the importance of the subject, deserves a volume of itself, to
explain all its branches and modifications.
CALICO PRINTING. 395
CHAPTER XL
CALICO PRINTING.
^ Trath is not local ; God alike per?adei
And fills the world of traffic and the shades,
And may be feared amidst the busiest scenes
Or scornM where bosiness never intervenes.'*
Ckywm.
We come now to treat of the important art of calico printing,
which constitutes a very large branch of the cotton manufacture,
and by means of which the value of calicoes, muslins, and other
cotton fabrics, are greatly enhanced. Cotton cloth, when used for
the outer garments of the female sex, the drapery of beds and
windows, the coverings of furniture, and similar purposes, is
ornamented with colours and patterns. Unlike silk and woollen
fiibrics, cottons are very rarely dyed of a uniform colour through-
out ; a variety of colours is fixed upon a single piece, and they
are printed on the white cotton or muslin in an endless variety of
patterns, thus giving a light and elegant effect to the print. The
art of the calico printer, therefore, not only comprehends that of
the dyer, which requires all'the aid of chemical science, but also
that of the artist, for the designing of tasteful and elegant patterns;
that of the engraver, for transferring those patterns to the metal
used to impress them on the cloth ; and that of the mechanician,
for tlie various mechanical processes of engraving and printing.
Taste, chemistry, and mechanics, have been called the three legs
of calico printing.
Calico printing is believed not to have been practised in Europe
till the seventeenth century. In what country the art was first in-
troduced is doubtful.
Calico printing has been the subject of modern improvements,
which may be compared in importance with those in cotton spin-
ning and bleaching. First was the block printing. But the grand
improvement in the art was the invention of cylinder printing,
which bears nearly the same relation in point of despatch to block
printing by hand, as throstle or mule spinning bears to spinning
by the one thread wheel.
This great invention is said to have been made by a Scotsman
of the name of Bel), and it was first successfiilly applied in Lan-
396
ilCMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER
cashire, about the year 17S5, at Moniey, near Preslon, by the house i
of Livesey, Hargreaves, Hull, <k Co, ; celebrated for the extent of
their concerns, and the magnitude of their failure in 1788, which
gave a severe shock to the industry of that part of the country.
This new mode of printing may be thus described : — A polished
copper cylinder, several feet in length, (according to the width of
the piece Co be printed,) and three or four inches in diameter, is
engraved with a pattern round its whole circumference, and from
end to end. It is then placed horizontally in a press, and, as it
revolves, the lower part of the circumference passes through the
colouring matter, which is again removed from the whole surfece
of the cylinder, except the engraved pattern, by an elastic steel
blade, placed in contact with the cylinder, and reduced to so fine
and straight an edge as to take ofl' the colour without scratching
the copper. This blade has received the name of the doctor,
which may be a workman's abbreviation of the word abductor,
applied to it from the purpose which it answers ; or may hare
been given from a vulgar use of the word to doctor, meaning to
set to rights. The colour being thus left only in the engraved
pattern, the piece of calico or muslin is drawn lightly over i'
cylinder, which revolves in the same direction, and prints the cloth
After the piece is printed, it passes over several metallic boxes, &
feet long, ten inches broad, and six inches deep, heated by steai
which dry it. A piece of cloth may be thus printed and dried ii
one or two minutes, which by the old method would require tl
application of the block 448 times. Nor is this all : two, three a
even five cylinders may be used at the same time in one pn^si
each cylinder having engraved upon it a different portion of tK(
pattern, and being supplied with a difl'erent colour. The pie
passes over them successively, and receives the entire ponH
almost at the same moment. To produce the same effect by hit
block printing would have required 896, 1344, 1*92, or 224't«
plications of the blocks, accordmg as two, three, four or five cyiM
ders may have been employed. The saving of labour, ther^^f it"
e: oneof the cylinder printing machines, attended hr^
'apable of producing as much n
^nd as many tear boys. But
pp here. Another admirable in* ■
Vribed, multiplied the advstiii
instead of being executed b-.
copper cylinder, is nowperibi.
transfers the pattern from n
\.\\ifte vuches in length and i*i
CALICO PRINTING. 397
diameter, to the copper cylinder three or four feet in length. The
principle of this invention is the same which Mr. Jacob Perkins
applied to the multiplication of plates for the printing of bank-
notes, and Mr. Perkins has the reputation of being its inventor.
Mr. Joseph Lockett, engraver for calico-printers in Manchester,
introduced this system about the year 1808 : he may be consider-
ed as at least one of the inventors, and he certainly did more than
any other person to perfect it. The method of transferring is as
follows : — The pattern intended to be engraved is so arranged in
the first place by a drawing made to agree with the circumference
of the copper cylinder, as that it will join and appear continuous
when repeated. This is then carefully followed by the engraver,
and cut or sunk on a small steel cylinder, about three inches long
and one thick, so softened or decarbonised as to admit of being
easily cut. The steel is then tempered or hardened, and by means
of pressure against another cylinder of softened steel, a fac-simile
is made in relief, that is, raised upon the surface. The second
cylinder is then hardened in the same way, and it becomes hard
enough to impress the whole engraving, even to the most delicate
lines on the copper cylinder, when pressed against it in a machine.
The small cylinder originally engraved is called the die; the
second cylinder, which is in relief, is called the mill. The latter
is successively applied to the whole circumference of the copper
cylinder, which is thus entirely covered with the pattern, as finely
wrought as if it had been directly produced by the tool of the
engraver. The surface of the die originally engraved is not more
than about one-fiftieth part of the surface of the copper cylinder,
and the engraving itself is therefore multiplied fifty-fold. By this
means the most delicate designs, which would occupy an engraver
as many months to efifect by hand, can be completed in a few days ;
of course the cylinders are produced at a much less price, and they
may be executed in a very superior manner. Should the copper
cylinder be so far worn as to require the pattern to be re-engraved,
it can be done by the same process with amazing rapidity, and at
a very trifling cost, as the mill is already prepared.
Other modes of transferring are practised. In some cases the
die is cut on a flat surface, and the pattern transferred in relief to
a cylinder, which again transfers it to the copper cylinder at
proper distances on the sur&ce. In other cases the die is cylin-
drical, and the mill flat. When the design is very small, and
requires to be repeated a great number of times on the copper
cylinder, the pattern is engraved round the whole of the steel
cylinder, so as to join or meet in the circumference, and at such
398 MEMOIR OF SAMUBL SLATER.
equal distances that every repetition, or part forming the pattern,
will fall into its fac-simile, like the teeth in a wheel. The mill is
then placed in contact with and compressed into the copper
cylinder, by means of machinery which is made to traverse by a
spiral movement, until the whole of the copper cylinder is covered.
By this means the most minute patterns are produced, such as
human ingenuity could not accomplish by any other method.
Sometimes the copper cylinders are etched, instead of being en-
graved, — a plan invented by Mr. John Bradbury of Manchester,
extensively practised by Messrs. Joseph Lockett, jr. & Co. ; and
which is likely to prove of very great benefit to the printing
business. The polished cylinder, having been heated, is covered
with a thin coat of varnish, such as is used by historical engravers.
The pattern is then traced on the cylinder with a diamond pointed
tracer, by means of a most complicated and ingenious system of
machinery, the invention of Mr. Lockett, sen. ; and the varnish
having been thus removed from the figure, the cylinder is im-
mersed in aquafortis, and the parts exposed become corroded or
engraved. The value of this process depends entirely on the beauty
and novelty of the pattern. The tracing machinery is capable,
like the kaleidoscope, of producing an endless variety of patterns,
yet without being, like that instrument, dependent on mere acci-
dent for its changes. It has been so far perfected, that it will
follow to a considerable extent designs made by persons perfectly
unacquainted with its construction ; and patterns may be produced
by it which cannot be copied, or in many instances even imitated,
by other means.
So great is the reputation acquired by the engravers of Man-
chester, from their skill and the perfection of their machinery,
that orders are sent there for engraved cylinders from all parts of
Europe and America where cylinder printing is practised ; even
though the cost and risk of getting them to their destination should
treble or quadruple their original price.
The beautiful and admirable inventions we have described, do
not complete even the mechanical improvements in calico printing.
It is still found necessary to execute parts of the patterns in fine
goods with blocks, after the ground-work has been laid on by the
cylinders ; because different parts of the pattern, executed with
different colours, cannot be made so exactly to fall into and fit with
the other parts, by the cylinder as by the block. About the year
1802, an important improvement was made in the construction of
blocks, for which the art is indebted to the workmen of London.
Formerly all the blocks were cut in wood, like ordinary wood-cuts
CALICO PRINTING. 399
used in the prints of books, but the work was necessarily coarser,
to endure the wear and tear of so many impressions ; each piece
of cloth, as has been stated, requires the application of the block
448 times, and, of course, 100 pieces would require its application
44,800 times. If the design, therefore, was fine and elaborate,
the block would soon wear away. The improvement effected re-
moves this objection. The pattern, instead of being cut in relief
on the wood, is (in many cases), raised on the surface of a plain
block, by pieces of flat copper, or brass wire, of various thicknesses
and forms, produced by drawing the wire through dies of various
shapes. These pieces of wire ard set into the wood, and all stand
exactly the same height, namely, about the eighth of an inch.
The thicker parts of the pattern have merely the outline formed
of copper, and they are filled up with felt. Blocks on this im*
proved construction are ten-fold more durable than the old wooden
blocks, and when the metal is worn down nearly to the surface of
the wood, the last impression is as good as the first. The success-
ful application of engraved copper cylinders to printing, was fol-
lowed by that of cylindrical blocks, or engraved wooden rollers.
This mode of printing, which is practised extensively in some
establishments, is called surface-printing. The union of the two
systems in the same machine, that is, of a wooden cylinder in
relief with an engraved copper cylinder, forms what has been
denominated the union or mule machine, and was the invention of
Mr. James Burton, about the year 1806, whilst he was engineer in
the establishment of Messrs. Peel & Co., of Church.
Many minor improvements have been made in the mechanical
department of calico printing, but those which have been described
are by far the greatest, and for ingenuity and beauty, as well as
for productive power, they well deserve to rank with the more
celebrated inventions in cotton spinning. The chemical depart-
ment of printing has been not less rich in discoveries than the
mechanical.
The proper use of mordants lies at the foundation of the dyer's
art. The nature of mordants is thus explained by Dr. Thomson :
" The term mordant is applied by dyers to certain substances with
which the cloth to be dyed must be impregnated, otherwise the
colouring matters would not adhere to the cloth, but would be
removed by washing. Thus the red colour given to cotton by
madder would not be fixed, unless the cloth were previously steep-
ed in a solution of a salt of alumina. It has been ascertained that
the cloth has the property of decomposing the salt of alumina.
The red colouring principle of the madder has an aflSnity for this
400 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
alumina, and combines with it. The consequence is that the
alumina being firmly retained by the cloth, and the colouring
matter by the alumina, the dye becomes fast, or cannot be removed
by washing the cloth with water, even by the assistance of soap,
though simple water is sufficient to remove the red colouring
matter from the cloth, unless the alum mordant has been pre-
viously applied."
Mordant is also applied to certain substances, which have the
property of altering the shade of colour, or of brightening the
colour as it is called. The most valuable of all mordants is the
acetated aluminous mordant, first employed by the calico-printers
of England. By degrees they found out that sugar of lead and
alum were the most important, and they discarded first one and
then another of the ingredients they had been accustomed to mix
with them, though without the aid of any chemical reasoning.
The process of cylinder printing is very commonly employed to
fix the mordant on the cloth, which is afterwards put into the dye-
vat, when those parts only receive the colour which had previous-
ly been printed with the mordant, the other parts remaining white.
This was soon followed by the discovery of the process for pro-
ducing what has been named resist-work, or neutral work. It
consists in printing various mordants on those parts of the cloth
intended to be coloured, and a paste or resist on such as are in-
tended to remain white. It is the invention of a person named
Grouse. It required the experience of a year or two to perfect
this system, and make it practically useful. The house of Sir
Robert Peel, of Bury, was the first to print by this plan so as to
attract notice, 1802 : it is now one of the most beautiful and per-
fect of the operations of modem calico printing. The discovery
of new facts, as well as the ingenious application of known ones,
has enabled Mr. Mercer of Oakenshaw to make the bronze style
his own, and literally to transmute the ores of manganese into
ores of gold. This ingenious individual possesses a store of
knowledge and facts unknown to scientific chemists, and sought
for in vain in their latest works. It is to be hoped he will have
both leisure and inclination at some time to present a portion of
his labours to the world.
The large print-works of Lancashire are among the noost in-
teresting manufactories that can be visited. Several of the pro-
prietors or managers are scientific men ; and being also persons
of large capital, they have the most perfect machinery and the best
furnished laboratories. All the processes through which the cloth
haii to pass, from the state in which it is left by the weaveri till it
^ CALtCO PRINTING. 401
is made up a finished print ready for the foreign or home market,
are performed in these extensive establishments. The bleaching,
the block-printing, the cylinder-printing, the dyeing, the engravings
both of blocks and cylinders, the designing of patterns, and the
preparation of colours, all go on within the same enclosure. Some
of the print works employ as many as a thousand workpeople.
The order and cleanliness of the works, and the remarkable
beauty of most of the operations, impress the visitor with admira-
tion and surprise. A printing establishment, like a cotton mill, is
a wonderful triumph of modern science ; and when the mechani-
cal and chemical improvements of both are viewed together, they
form a splendid and matchless exhibition of science applied to the
arts, and easily account for a rapidity of growth and a vastness of
extension in the manufacture, which has no parallel in the records
of industry.
Calico printing from cylinders. — Many of the patterns on printed
calicoes are copies by printing from copper cylinders about four
or five inches in diameter, on which the desired pattern has been
previously engraved. One portion of the cylinders is exposed to
the ink, whilst an elastic scraper of stufied leather, by being
pressed forcibly against another part, removes all superfluous ink
from the surface previously to its reaching the cloth. A piece of
calico twenty eight yards in length rolls through this press, and
is printed in four or five minutes.
Calico printing from blocks, — This is a mode of copyii^ by sur-
face-printing, from the ends of small pieces of copper wire, of
various forms, fixed in a block of wood. They are all of one
Uniform height, about the eighth part of an inch above the surface
of the wood, and are arranged by the maker into any required
pattern. If the block be placed upon a piece of fine woollen
cloth, on which ink of any colour has been uniformly spread, the
projecting copper wires receive a portion which they give up when
applied to the calico to be printed. By the former method of
printing on calico, only one colour could be used ; but by this
plan, after the flower of a rose, for example, has been printed with
one set of blocks, the leaves may be printed of another colour by
a different set.
The following account was sent me from Messrs. Marshall's
establishment : —
Stockport, January 20th, 1836.
The Hudson print works (Stockport) were first established in 1826 on a
very small scale ; with one printing machine, small dye-house, and other
61
402 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
necessary operations, such as bleaching, Ac,; sufficient for printing about
3000 yards per day. In the course of the year 1828 there were three print-
ing machines imported from England, with all their necessary apparatus for
dyeing the cloth by steam, and in the course of that and the two following
years, the company were able to print 10,000 yards per day. About this time
a new bleaching house was requisite, as the first one was on too small a scale.
And a new dye-house and other offices were needful to keep pace with the
three printing machines. In the year 1830 we had a severe fire, which bunit
down the above bleaching house, and destroyed about 30,000 pieces of 30
yards each ; say 900,000 yards.
At this time we erected other bleach works, competent to bleaching from
foui to five thousand pieces per week, and out of the ruins of the old bleach-
ing house, which was a four story building, made a second dye-house. This
being accomplished we were able to finish regularly 2,000 pieces per week,
of permanent madder colours, besides our navy blues, dtc. making in all 2500
pieces, or 75,000 yards per week. Our works now run much ahead of this.
In our block shop we employ 42 block printers for printing by hand. We
have now increased our establishment to five printing machines, two of
which print four colours at once and three of three colours each, of the very
best models in England and lately imported. With our present works, we
can print an average of 120 pieces on each of these machines per day,
making 600 pieces of 30 yards each, or 18,000 yards. Or in one year c^ fifty
weeks, 5,400,000 yards, worth on an average 18 cents per yard, equal to
$972,000 per year in sales. We employ about 250 hands, most of them men.
We have every thing within ourselves for finishing the above in the first
rate style of prints, either calicoes or furnitures. From the above you will
find that we have increased since 1826 to this time from 300 to 1800 yards
per day, and those of as good and fast colours as can be made in either
England, France, dbc.
Hudson Calico Print Works, of Marshall, CarviUe, ^ Taylor.
The upper part of the calico works form a square ; from the counting-
house, which is at the entrance, we have a dry shed for drying the pieces,
200 feet long, running in a southerly direction ; thence 200^feet east of the
river, which supplies our water power. From the office in a northerly
direction is a space of 200 feet, in the middle of which runs one string Of
buildings, occupied as follows, measuring in all 500 feet in height : —
1. Blue dye-house,
2. Machine, dbc. and making-up rooms,
3. Steaming and boiler rooms,
4. Drying and colour rooms,
5. Boiling and evaporating room,
6. Block cutting, engraving, and drawing rooms,
In a northerly direction there are 200 feet, which is taken up by a two story
piazza of 130 feet, as a conveyance from the above string of buildings to the
madder dye-house, runs in an easterly direction, making the square above
mentioned. In this square we have four other buildings: packing-room,
where all our goods are packed for the market, our store-house for drugs,
dec, one cloth room where all our printing cloths are stored secure from fire.
The fourth is our block shop.
90 f(
set long
4 stories.
100
do.
4 do.
60
do.
4 do.
80
do.
3 do.
70
do.
1 do.
100
do.
2 do.
CALICO PRINTING. 403
Besides the above buildings, we hare our machine-shop, carpenter's shop,
mills for grinding dye-woods, calenders for glazing, a dye-house, machine
room, with three printing machine rooms, dbc. for airing the goods after
printing, with water power not half employed.
The madder dye house mentioned above, 286 feet long by 50 wide, I
believe to be the largest ever built for that purpose ; the main shaft frame
water wheel being more than 300 feet long. Hoping this will give you
some insight how far we have proceeded in calico printing, I remain
your obedient servant, J. Tatlob.
P.S. on the manufacturing of shirtings and fine printing cloths : — The
two brothers, Joseph and Benjamin Marshall, having dissolved partnership,
Benjamin Marshall at Troy has now all the factories ; he makes the finest
shirtings in the country, called the New York mills shirtings, besides the
finest printing cloths.
Before the commencement of the printing bnsiness, the cotton
manufacture was considered in a precarious condition ; so that no
one ventured on the finer fabrics, but since calico printing has
been established, the cotton manufactures in the United States
may safely be considered as built on a permanent basis.
The home consumption of cotton prints is immense ; already the
English and French articles have left our stores ; and shortly
printed goods will be sent to South America and other markets.
Calico printing must therefore be considered of immense import-
ance, both to the culture and manufacture of cotton. It is but
yet in its infisLncy, and is capable of vast extension and improve-
ment
After the manufacture of the cloth is complete, there is the im-
portant process of bleaching to be undergone by all cotton goods,
by which the rough, gray, and dirty fabric brought in by the wea-
ver, is converted into the smooth and snowy cloth ready for the
hands of the sempstress. The processes vary a little in duration
and frequency, according to the quality of the cloth to be bleached.
Every thing is done by machinery or by chemical agents, and the
large bleach works require steam engines of considerable power.
Human hands only convey the cloth from process to process.
There is much beauty in many of the operations ; and great skill
is needed in the mere disposition of the several cisterns and
machines, so that the goods may pass through the processes with
the smallest expenditure of time. Large capital has been expended
in many of the bleach works in England; and extraordinary per-
fection has been attained in the machinery and in all the details
of the arrangements; strict method and order prevail; the
managers are men of science, who are eager to adopt every che-
404 MKMOIR OF SAMUEL ILATBR.
imeal and mechanical improvement that may occur to themsdvea
or to. others. So greatly has bleaching been cheapened and
quickened by the discoveries of modem science, that it costs only
one cent a ywtd on the cloth bleached and finished.
Mr. Baines states (hat " the Americans print &w of their dotfas f
this must hfiye referred to past information. From the calculations
I have been able to make, one himdred and twenty millions of
yards have been printed in the United States the last year, ending
the 1st of April, 1836. And the prospect of an advance in quan-
tity and qufdity is very great, as the demand justifies every exer-
tion and improvement. In Rhode Island and Massachusetts the
printing establishments are very considerable : — P. Allen, Provi-
dence ; Sprague, Cranston ; Crawford Allen, Pawtucket ; one at
Lowelly one at Taunton, and one at Fall River ; one at Dover, New
Hampshire ; two at East Madden, Cheshire, two or three in New
Jersey, and ten or twelve in Ptonsylvania. The bleaching busi-
ness is generally connected with the calico printing, as is the case
of the Marshall's at Hudson.*
* The repeal of the piint duty in England has ]«ored highlf benefieial,
baring given a stimulos both to production and to improTement To As
conajopier it is a great relief, especially to the poor, as a woman can now
buy a useful and respectable printed dress for hcUf-QrCrvwtf which belbfs
the repeal of the duty was a third more. A printed dress of good materials
and a neat pattern, with fast colours, may now be bought for two •hiUitigi,
or forty-asTen cents. The large print works of Laoeashire are among the
most interesting manufactories that can be visited. Seyeral of the propffis-
t<v8 or managers are si^ientific men ; imd being also persons of large sapitali
they hare the most perfect machinery and the best furnished laboiatoiies.
All the proceeses through which the cloth has to pass, from the stale ia
which it is left by the weaver, till it is made up a finished print ready (or
the foreign or home market, are performed in these extensive establishments.
The bleaching, the block printing, the cylinder printing, the dyeing, te
engraving both of blocks and cylinders, the designing of patterns, and the
prepaijation of colours, ail go on within the same encloaure. Some of the
print-works employ as many as a thousand work-people. The order and
cleanness of the works, and the remarkable beauty of most of the operations,
impress the visiter with admiration and surprise.
s
\^
.^\
^N
flILK MACHINBBT.
CHAPTER XII.
BILE UACHIHEHT.
Baibitt JfeeAnnum.
Phe plate annexed represents the series of changes from
formation of the egg to the death of the silk moth. We
il explain it with reference to the figures that are marked
)Dit.
. The egg, or the development and birth of the silk-caterpillar.
!. The silk-vorms, during the first age, till their first moulting,
t. Rearing of the worms in the second age.
L. The worms in their third age.
>. Rearing of the silk-worm in the fourth age.
i. The rearing of the silk-worms during the fifth age, until the
opletion of the cocoon.
'. A species of silk-worm of a dark gray colour, with singular
rka.
). The cocoons.
I. Two open cocoons, or cocoons with their grubs. The upper
! contains only the shell of a developed chrysalis, bat in the
rer is seen the immature chrysalis, with the skin of the late
th.
10. A cocoon, from which the butterfly is near emerging.
II. A cocoon from which the butterfly has already escaped.
L2. Two butterfiies in the act of coupling.
.3. The female moth laying eggs.
.4. Raw silk, of a yellow or while colour.
.6. Here is represented the excremental substance of the silk-
mi, in its first and last age.
The silk-worm is a robust little animal, and its organisatioii is
406
MEMOIR OP SAMUEL SLATER.
simple ; but the rearing of it is often so defective, that, notwith-
standing its sound constitution, it frequently perishes from the ill
management it experiences in its rearing.
It must not be concealed, that some antagonists of this industry
have maintained that it is injurious to the human constitution.
But this is a mere prejudice, or^ vain pretence. No human being
has yet suffered, bodily, from this cause.
SUk Engine or 8mft
The machinery of the silk filature^ from Dr. Ure. — These filatnns
are very simple ; but the throwing-mills, for doubling and twist-
ing silk, are most elaborate constructions. Ever since they were
remodeled by Fairbaim, and upon the cotton-throstle plan, they
are incomparably superior in convenience, precision and speed of
performance, to what they formerly were in England, and still are
in other parts of Europe. When these mechanicians took the
silk-mill in hand, the spindles moved at the rate of only 1,200
revolutions per minute : they forthwith raised it to 3,000, — a velo-
city since increased to 4,500 by Ritson, a cotton mill mechanic,
in whose favour they resigned this branch of engineering. The
representations inserted are parts of a complete series of drawings
made, under my inspection, from the latest and most improved
silk-throwing machinery erected by him. The first operation
SILK HACBINBRT. 407
which raw silk undergoes in the factory, is its transfer, from skeins
upon bobbins, in diagonal lines ; so that the ends of the threads
may be readily found, in case of breakage. The bobbins are
wooden cylinders of such thickness as not to injure the filaments
by sudden flexure, which smaller cylinders would do, and to be
able to receive a considerable length of thread without materially
increasing their diameters ; and, of course, their surface velocity
in revolving.
The winding machine, called the engine, consists of a long
wooden table, for laying out the skeins upon. These are called
szoifli, because, though they turn slowly round with the revolving
bobbins, yet they do their work quickly, compared with hand-
winding machines.
Doubling Engine. — In the doubling of silk, where two or three
threads are wound, parallel together, upon one bobbin, an inge-
nious contrivance is employed to stop the winding whenever one
of the threads happens to break.
Miehnum tf DoiMimg Wit.
The machine for twisting the single threads of silk, either be-
fore the doubling or after the doubling, is called the spimang-mUlt
sometitne* alao die thiowing-mtll ; tfiough the latt» term tXtea
MCMOIK OF SAimeL SLATER.
End Dine ^ Fairbatra't end LillU'i impnetd SiU ^nning MUL
includes all the departments of a sUk-mill. The section above, of
this apparatus, shows four equal working lines, namely, two on
each side of the frame, one tier being over the other. In some
spinning mills there are three tiers, but the uppermost is a little
troublesome to manage, as it requires the attendant to mount a
stool or steps.
Silk undergoes certain preparations. The hanks of the raw
silk are soaked iii tepid soap-water in a tub ; but the bobbins of the
spun silk are steamed by inclosing a basket full of them within a
wooden steam case, for about ten minutes. The bobbins are then
removed into a cistern of worm water, from which they are taken
to the doubling frame. It is probable that the power-loom will be
applied to the weaving of fancy, as well as plain goods ; which
will give a great impulsion to the silk trade of England. Sharp
jf. Roberts will readily furnish the requisite machinery for pro-
<lucing any wished-for design, however complicated. What is to
f>revent iu iatroduction into America 'I In silk estabiiahmentB, the
FT
8ILK MACHINERY. 409
machinery can be, and often is, employed fh)m three to six hours
after the hands have left work. When water-power is used, the
portion of the silk-machinery which contains the swifts, generally
works all night without being tended.
NATURE AND OPERATIONS OP A SILK FACTORY.
The silk worm was first rendered senriceable to man in China,
about 2700 years before the Christian era. From that country
the art of rearing it passed into India and Persia. It was only at
the beginning of the sixteenth century that two monks brought
some eggs of the silk worm to Constantinople, and promulgated
some information on the growth of the caterpillars. This know-
ledge became, under the emperor Justinian, productive of a new
source of wealth to the European nations. In 1564, Traucat, a
common gardener of Nismes, laid the first foundation of a nursery
of white mulberry trees, with such success as to enable them to be
propagated within a few years over all the southern provinces of
France.
This insect is first an egg, which the warmth of spring brings
forth : and this, as it enlarges, progressively casts its skin three or
four times, according to the variety of the insect. This caterpillar
at the end of twenty-five or thirty days having attained maturity
of size, ceases to eat for the remainder of its life, merely discharges
its excrementitious matter by spinning a cocoon, within which it
is changed into a chrysalis. In fifteen or twenty days they come
out, a couple of butterfiies, male and female.
The eggs of the silk worm are covered with a liquid, which
glues them to the piece of paper on which the female lays them ;
and they may be freed from it by dipping them in cold water, and
afterwards drying them. They should be preserved at the tem-
perature of from 54® to 59° Farenheit. When the heats of April
begin to be felt, they must not be suffered to act on the eggs, be-
cause they would bring on incubation before the first shoots of
the mulberry have come forth to supply food to the young worms.
This period should be kept back also, because it is proper to hatch
almost all the eggs together, or at least in successive broods cor-
responding to the extent of the breeding establishment. The eggs
may be laid in a stove room, and exposed to a warmth gradually
increasing, till it reaches the temperature of 86° Fahrenheit, at
which it must be kept stationary. Nature finishes the work of in-
cubation in eight or ten days. The teeming seed is now covered
with a sheet of paper pierced with h(ries, about one twelfth of au
52
410 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
inch in diameter, through which the young worms creep upwards
instinctively to get at the mulberry leaves previously placed above.
Whenever the leaves become loaded with worms, they are trans-
ferred to plates of wicker work covered with grey paper. This
transfer is repeated twice every day.
In the course of from forty-eight to seventy-two hours the whole
of the eggs should be hatched. The nursery for breeding the
worms ought to be a well aired apartment, free from damp, cold,
and excess of heat, from rats and other destructive vermin. For
breeding twenty-one ounces avoirdupois of seed, the chamber
should be thirty-three feet wide by eighty feet long, and be provided
with fire-places for heating and ventilating it ; the window case-
ments should be glazed. The temperature must not be allowed to
fall under 66° Fahrenheit ; it may be raised to 92° Fahrenheit, or
even higher ; but from 68° to 86° Fahrenheit, is the ordinary
range. A current of air should be admitted to purify the atmo-
sphere from the fetid emanations of the caterpillars, their excre-
ments, and the decayed leaves. Light is nowise unfavourable ;
but may be regarded as in some respects advantageous. A spare
room should be set apart for the diseased worms.
A few osier mats may suffice while the worms are young, but
more are required in proportion as they grow larger, to prevent
their getting piled on each other. The supply of leaves must be
proportional to the age of the brood, and ought to be increased
when nothing but their ribs are left. The very young should be
fed with leaves minced small, and should not be troubled with the
removal of the litter, which is trifling. At a future stage it must
be removed with delicacy, to give the worms more air, on the new
wicker frames, without parting them too far.
Before each moulting, the worm has a keen appetite, but during
that process it loses it entirely, and falls into a languid state, from
which it immediately revives on casting its skin. The pieces of
paper are withdrawn from the bottom of the wicker-frames to per-
mit a free transmission of air between their interstices, whenever
the worms have become large enough not to fall through them.
After the second moulting, they are half an inch long, and may
then be transported from the smaller apartment, in which they are
hatched, into the larger one, where they are to be reared to maturity.
They must be well cleaned from the litter on this occasion, laid
upon fresh leaves, and supplied with a succession of them, cut in
pieces, every six hours. After the third moult, the worms may be
fed with entire leaves ; for they are then extremely voracious, and
must not be stinted in their diet. The same remark is still more
SILK MACHINERY. 411
applicable to the period after the fourth moult. The heat should
now be limited to 68° or 70° Fahrenheit. In every period of their
existence, the silk worms are liable to a variety of diseases, under
which they derive benefit from the exposure of portions of chlo-
ride of lime in their nurseries. When they have reached the fifth
stage, they cease to eat ; they void their excrements, diminish in
bulk; become somewhat semi-transparent, abandon the leaves, try
to crawl on the upright posts, and to conceal themselves in corners.
These symptoms indicate the development of the spinning instinct.
Green oak twigs are to be laid in parallel rows on the wicker
tablets in the form of little alleys, eighteen inches wide, with their
little ramifications interwoven above. The worms of two tablets
are to be collected on one, and freed from all their litter. Little
coils of paper and of wood shavings are placed alongside of the
diligent worms first, and, after a while, of the lazier ones. The
creature sets itself to construct its cocoon, throwing about its
thread in different directions, forming the floss, filoselle, or outer
open net work. But it soon begins its regular operation of wind-
ing round about, in nearly parallel lines, a fine thread into an egg-
shaped form, in the centre of which the caterpillar sits at work.
The matter of the silk is liquid in the body of the worm, but it
hardens in the air. The twin filaments, which the animal always
spins through its double tubular mouth, are agglutinated by that
liquid cement. The same matter may be extracted in a lump
from the body of the worm, and drawn out artificially into a thin
transparent web, or into threads of variable diameters. The
cocoons are completed in the course of three or four days, after
which they must be removed from the branches and sorted, the
finest being reserved for seed worms. The cocoons which are to
be unwound must not be allowed to remain with the worms ten
or twelve days alive within them ; for if the chrysalis has time to
come out, the cocoon would be cut through, and be useless. The
animal must be killed by suffocation, which is effected either by
exposing the cocoons for five days to the sunshine, by placing them
in a hot oven, or in the steam of boiling water.
The erection of the first mill in England for the manufacture of
silk was at Derby. The original mill, called the Silk Mill to de-
note its pre-eminence, being the first and largest of its kind ever
erected in England, stands upon an island in the river Derwent.
Its history remarkably denotes the power of genius, and the vast
influence which even the enterprises of an individual has on the
commerce of a country. The Italians were long in the exclusive
possession of the art of silk throwing, and the merchants of other
412 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
nations were consequently dependent on that people for their par-
ticipation in a very lucrative article of trade, and were frequently
deprived of their fair profits by exorbitant prices charged for the
original material. This state of things continued till the com-
mencement of the last century, when a person named Crotchet
erected a small mill near the present works, with an intention of
introducing the silk manufacture into England ; but his machinery
being inadequate to the purpose, he quickly became insolvent, and
the design was for some time abandoned. In the year 1715, a
similar idea began to expand in the mind of an excellent mechanic
and draughtsman, John Lombe, who though young, resolved on
the perilous task of traveling into Italy, to procure drawings or
models of the machines necessary for the undertaking. In Italy
he remained some time, but as admission to the silk-works was
prohibited, he could only obtain access by corrupting two of the
workmen, through whose assistance he inspected the machinery in
private ; and whatever parts he obtained a knowledge of during
these visits, he recorded on paper before he slept. By perseverance
in this mode of conduct, he made himself acquainted with the
whole ; and had just completed his plan, when his intention was
discovered, and his life being in extreme hazard, he flew with pre-
cipitation, and took refuge on ship-board. The two Italians who
had favoured his scheme, and whose Uves were in equal danger
with his own, accompanied him, and they all soon landed in safety
in England : this happened in 1717. Fixing on Derby as a pro-
per place for his purpose, he agreed with the corporation for an
island, or swamp, in the river, 500 feet long, and 52 wide, at a
rent somewhat below £8 yearly. Here he established his silk-mill ;
but during the time employed in its construction, he erected tem-
porary machines in the town-hall, and various other places ; by
which means he not only reduced the prices of silk &x below the
Italians, but was likewise enabled to proceed with his great under-
taking, though the charges amounted to nearly £30,000. In the
year 1718 he procured a patent to enable him to secure the profits
thus arising from his address and ingenuity, for the term of four-
teen years ; but his days verged to a close, and before half this
period had elapsed, treachery and poison had brought him to the
grave. The Italians, whose trade rapidly decreased from the
success of the new establishment, were exasperated to vengeance,
and vowed the destruction of the man whose ingenuity had thus
turned the current of their business into another channel.
It is in the production of the patterns of silk goods, that the
French have a decided advantage over the British ; they probably
SILK MACHINERY. 413
have little or none after the design is put into the loom. The
modes in which taste is cultivated at Lyons deserve particular
study and imitation in this country. Among the weavers of the
place, the children and every body connected with devising
patterns, much attention is devoted to every thing any way con-
nected with the beautiful either in figure or colour. Weavers
may be seen in their holiday leisure gathering flowers, and group-
ing them in the most engaging combinations. They are continu-
ally suggesting new designs to their employers, and are thus the
fruitful source of elegant patterns. There is hardly any consider-
able house in Lyons, in which there is not a partner who owes
his place in it to his success as an artist. The town of Lyons is
so conscious of the value of such studies, that it contributes 20,000
francs per annum to the government establishment of the school
of arts, which takes charge of every youth who shows an aptitude
for drawing, or imitative design of any kind, applicable to manu-
factures. Hence all the eminent painters, sculptors, even botanists
and florists of Lyons, become eventually associated with the staple
trade, and devote to it their happiest conceptions. The French
manufacturer justly considers that his pattern is the principal
element of his success in trade ; for the mere handiwork of weav-
ing is a simple afiair, with the improved Jacquard loom. He
therefore visits the school, and picks out the boy who promises,
by taste and invention, to suit his purpose the best. The French
weaver prides himself upon his knowledge of design ; he will turn
over several hundred patterns in his possession, and descant on
their relative merits, seldom erring ikr in predicting the success
of any new style. By this disposition the minds of the silk-
weavers in France become elevated and refined. In flower
patterns, their designs are remarkably free from incongruities,
being copied from nature with scientific precision. They supply
taste to the whole world in proportion to the extent of their expor-
tations. There are also weaving schools; in these, a pattern
being exhibited, they are required to exercise their invention as to
the best means of producing the design on a piece of silk goods.
Their superiority in art is turned to good account in many other
manufactures.
England beheld, with no small degree of jealousy, the prodigious
plantations of mulberry trees in France, the increasing production
of silk, and the consequent multiplication of silk manufactures.
James L accordingly endeavoured to introduce this industry into
his own kingdom ; and, in 1608, a most earnest appeal was made
to the British public, in tegArd to the advantages that might be
414 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
derived from the plantation of mulberry trees ; but nothing was
done : and only as late as 1820, was this subject seriously taken
up ; some inconsiderable experiments having sufSciently establish-
ed the fact, that these trees, and the precious insects which feed
upon them, thrive as well in England as in France. But long
before that epoch, silk manufactures had flourished, to a consider-
able extent, in England ; the raw silk being imported from Italy.
There existed already, in 1629, so many of these establishments
in London, that the weavers of the city and of the environs were
divided into corporations; and, in 1661, the individuals which
composed them were more than 40,000 in number.
The revocation of the edict of Nantes, in 1685, contributed
greatly to the future progress of this industry ; the most skilM
French weavers having taken refuge in England. Next to this
cause of the rapid progress of this manu&cture, must be mentioned
the silk machine erected at Derby, in 1719. The reputation of
the English fabrics increased at length to such a degree, that even
in Italy English silk commanded a higher price than the Italian.
Silk has long been a profitable production of Georgia, and other
parts of the United States ;* and may be increased, it is presumed,
as fast as the demand will rise. This is the strongest of all raw
materials, and the great empire of China, though abounding with
cottton, finds it the cheapest clothing for her people.
Tench Coxe says, (1789) : — " We have a large nursery of the
white Italian mulberry established here this summer. Within our-
selves, little can be expected ; but the idea of the nursery has been
encouraged upon this principle, that it prepares things for an emi-
gration from a silk country. This, perhaps, is refining, but the
expense is small ; the trees are want^ to replace those destroyed
by the British army ; and the measure falls in with our plan, to
foster and encourage, but not to force, manufactures."
* Extract from a description of Carolina, 1727. By Daniel Coxe, Esq.
— " The father of Daniel Coxe was the first proprietor of the English pro-
vince of Carolina. The vast trouble and expense of Governor Coxe, will
scarcely be credited ; for he not only, at his sole charge, for several years,
established and kept up a correspondence with the governors, and chief
Indian traders in all the English colonies, on the continent of America,
employed many people on discoveries, by land, to the west, north and south
of this vast extent of ground, but likewise, in the year 1698, he equipped and
fitted out two ships, provided with above thirty great guns, sixteen patereroes,
abundance of small arms, amunition, stoies and provisions of all soits, not
only for the use of those on board, and for discovery by sea, but also for
building a fortification, and settling a colony by land ; there being, in both
vessels, besides sailors and common men, above thirty English and French
DYEING. 416
HISTORICAL SUMMARY OF THE ART OF DYEING.
The desire of attracting public admiration may be observed
even in the least civilised state of society. Among the means of
distinction which are eagerly laid hold of, the glare of colours is
one of the most obvious. The art of dyeing, therefore, has un-
questionably a very ancient origin ; for when nature afforded
colouring substances of easy application, there might arise, among
people but slightly civilised, methods of dyeing which have been
sought after by polished nations. Thus the Gauls prepared some
dyes which were not disdained by the Romans. But for its
enlargement and perfection, the art required to follow the progress
of manufactures and luxury. The Egyptians had discovered a
mode of dyeing analogous to that of our printed calicoes. Cloths,
impregnated probably with different mordants, were plunged in a
bath in which they assumed different colours.
It is to Greece that our attention turns when we wish to ascer-
tain the progress which the human mind has made in antiquity.
volunteers, some noblemeD, and all gentlemen. One of these vessels dis-
covered the mouth of the great and famous river, Mississippi, entered and
ascended it above one hundred miles, and would have had perfected a settle-
ment therein, if the captain of the other ship had done his duty and not
deserted them. They however took possession of this country in the king's
name, and left, in several places, the arms of Great Britain affixed on boards
and trees for a memorial thereof. This was the first ship that ever entered
that river from the sea, or that perfectly discovered or described its several
mouths, in opposition to the boasts and falsities of the French, who assume
to themselves the honour of both; Providence seeming to reserve the glory,
of succeeding in so noble an enterprise, to the zeal and industry of a private
subject of England, which was twice, in vain, attempted by Louis XIV. of
France, the most ambitious and powerful monarch of Europe. King
William promised Governor Coxe to assist him in settling the province, but
died before the accomplishment of his design.
" To the king's most excellent majesty, — * In obedience to your majesty's
commands, signified to us by the right honourable Secretary Vernon, upon
the petition of Dr. Coxe, in relation to the province of Carolina: We have
considered his petition, and humbly crave leave to represent unto your Ma-
jesty, thai your Majesty's Attorney Greneral, upon the perusal of letters
patent, and conveyances produced to him by Dr. Coxe, has reported to us
his opinion, that Dr. Coxe has a good title, in law, to the said province of
Carolina, extending from 31 to 36 degrees of north latitude, inclusive, on
the continent of America, and to several adjacent islands.'
"Signed, Stamford, Lexington, P. Meadows, Wm. Blatuwait, John
POLLEXTREN, ABRAHAM HiLL, GeOROE StEPNEY.
" Whitehall, December 21, 1699."
The petition was signed, D. Coxe.
416 MEMOIR OF 8AM0EL SLATER.
Ever since philosophy has taken observation for a guide, and,
abandoning the illusions of systems, has -adhered to the study of
the phenomena of nature, and of the real properties to which they
owe their origin, it has followed the chain of the numerous won-
ders which it has analysed, in subserviency to the welfare of
society. It has recognised in manufacturing industry, as well as
in commerce, the source of the prosperity of the nation, the germ
of a great population, the principal support of agriculture.
National industry is augmented and enlightened by a free commu-
nication of the processes it employs. India is the nursery of that
knowledge and those arts which were subsequently diffused and
improved among other nations.^
ON DYEING COTTON AND SILK.
To dye skein cotton yellow, — The same operations as those in the fint
common red dye are to be used here ; to one pound of cotton foar ounces of
roche alum, and from one to four pounds of weld.
When dyed the cotton is to be worked in hot, but not boiling, Hqoor, cob-
sisting of four ounces of sulphate of copper to every pound of cotton ; it ii
then to be boiled for three hours in a solution containing four ounces of soap
to every pound of coitoa.
When a dark or jonquil colour is wanted, no alum is used ; of weld take two
pounds and a half, very little verdegris, or a little alum in its stead, but
nothing else. For brightening, however, boiling in a solution of soap is in
all cases necessary.
On dyeing and re^yeing cotton furniture yellow. — If the furniture, suck
as rough or finished cotton or cambric, intended for yellow linings for bed
or window curtains, be in a perfect bleached state, which is now generally
the case, according to the number of the pieces so must the size of the cop-
per be to boil the weld in for the yellow dye. A small copper holding fow
or five pails would do for three pieces of twenty-eight yards each. Tke
weld may be purchased by the half bundle, the bundle, or the load. Half ft
bundle would be enough for the above quantity of cotton, if a modeiato
yellow is wanted. The weld must be increased or decreased according at
the pattern approaches a straw, a canary, a lemon, or towards a gold colour
or orange.
The weld must be boiled about twenty minutes, the liquor then strained off
*Mr. John Wilson, of Ainsworth, near Manchester, an extremely inge-
nious dyer and manufacturer, who more than sixty years since gained both
celebrity and wealth by the great improvements he introduced into the art
of dyeing, had obtained from the Greeks of Smyrna the secret of dyeing
Turkey red, which he described in two essays ; but it is stated that he found
this too tedious and expensive a process, less suited to manufactured goods
than to cotton in the skein, nor even suited to that spun upon the single
spindles then in use, though it might be applicable to that spun on machines.
DYEINO COTTON AND SILK. 417
ilito a ptoper tab, and the weld boiled again. While the boilings are going
ott) three tubs, being wine pipes cut in two, must be got ready, and made
particularly clean, being also previously seasoned for the work. One is to
receive the boiled weld with some cold water to regulate it to the heat
which the hand will bear ; the other is for water, and as much alum liquor
as will colour it and make it taste strong ; and the third is to contain clear
water to wash the furniture off.
Whatever yellow is in/a<Aion(or indeed any fashionable colour,) has com-
monly ^fashionable name. But if the dyer can, by his experience, propor-
tion his drugs ta the weakest, and from that to the strongest shade, let the
name be what it may, after he has a set of patterns of his own dyeing, he
will see, upon the first sight of any colour, how to set about it.
In the present instance let the pattern be a moderately pale colour of yel-
low ; then put all the first boiling of the weld in the first tub, and cool down
as above directed. Two or three persons should then work the pieces quick
from end to end by the selvages ; that they may be even, two may do this ;
one of whom must be an expeditious hand to work them and keep them
even. When they have been edged over six or seven times, they are to be
folded upon a board laid over the tub, and wrung as dry as possible by two
persons. When they are all out, they are passed in the same manner
through the tub of alum, and, after six or seven turns, they are to be taken
out of the alum liquor, wrung as before, and then washed ofi*.
By this time the second weld liquor will be boiled ; some of the first must
be thrown away, and the second weld liquor added in its place. The goods
are then passed through as before, and wrung out ; the alum liquor being
strengthened, they are passed through it, wrung out as before, and then
washed ofi*: the water in the wash tub having been changed.
Id some instances verdegris is used instead of alum ; and in other cases it
is used in addition to the alum. For some shades old fustic is used instead
of weld, and sulphate of copper instead of verdegris.
The alum solution, and the sulphate of copper, and the verdegris, or
acetate of copper, should be always ready. It is necessary to have a tub for
each, in size proportioned to the work to be done ; but larger for the alum
than for the other two.
Sulphate of iron is also used in some dark grays, browns, slates, and in
all blacks ; this will require a tub as large or larger than that for alum.
When the yellows are dyed and wrung as dry as possible, they should be
taken into a close room or stove to dry, particularly in London, because of
the smoke, especially in winter. A German, or other stove, should be placed
in the room, the size of which, as well as the number of the stoves, must be
regulated by the quantity of work. When the goods are dry they must be
sent to the calenderers, if directed to be calendered ; but the general and
better way is to stiffen them with starch after they are dyed, and before they
are dry \ and when dry they should be sent to the glaziers, instead of the
calenderers, except when both branches are carried on by the same person.
When furniture, originally yellow, has become faded, it may be re-dyed
thus: in this case it should be dyed rather of • fuller shade than the
original. A large flat tub, such as described above, is to be filled three parts
full of water, to which sufficient sulphuric acid must be added to make it
taste strongly sour. After being well stirred, the pieces are to be put in,
63
V
,i«™/,.«i y/i.imm,;,,^, fytn.
420 MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.
the silks examined ; such as hare yellow or lemon colour spots remtinio^
are boiled again for some time, till the spots are removed. After anpocket-
iog, the whole is dressed on the pegs.
Silk loses from iwenty-five to twenty -eight per cent, of its weight in
nngnmming and whitening. The bags of silk should nerer be soffered lo
lie long together before they are emptied after being boiled, as their doing
so would make the silk hard.
White silk, as before obserred, is distinguished into' fire {nincipal shades,
namely, China white, India white, thread or milk white, silver white, and
azure white.
The three first are prepared and boiled as has already been shown. Silrer
and azure white in the preparation or ungumming, thus : take fine powdered
indigo, put it into water boiling hot, when settled the liquor is called
azure.
To azure the eilk it is taken from the ungumming copper after it is dressed
and put into a trough of water ; after it is worked, drained, and again dressed,
it is ready for the whitening.
Whitening. — Put into a copper with thirty pails of water half a pound of
soap; when it boils, and the soap dissolved, add for China ir^tfe a little
prepared annatto. The silk, being on rods, is now to be put into the cop-
per, and kept turning end for end without intermission till the shade ii
uniform. For India white a little azure is added, to give the blue shade:
for thread white and others a little azure is also to be added.
Observe, the liquor should be very hot, but not boiling ; the turnings fire
times repeated, by which the shade is made even. When finished, it is
taken out, wrung, spread on poles to dry, and that part of it required for
sulphuring must be put upon rods or slight poles.
Sulphuring. — The hanks, being upon poles seven or eight feet from the
ground, in an appropriate room, one pound and a half or two pounds of roll
brimstone will sulphur a hundred weight of silk.
Put the brimstone, coarsely powdered, into an earthen pipkin with a little
charcoal or small coal at bottom. Light one of the bits with a candle,
which will kindle all the rest.
The room should be close, the chimney, if any, being closed up; the sul-
phur should burn under the silk all night. The next morning the windows
should be opened to let out the smoke and admit the air, which, in sununer,
will be sufficient to dry the silk ; but in winter, as soon as the sulphurous
fumes are dissipated, the windows must be shut and a fire kindled in the
stove or stoves to dry the silk.
Observe, if the room for sulphuring does not admit of openings sufficient
for the dissipation of the sulphuric fumes, the work-people will be in danger
of suffocation.
When the sulphur is consumed it leaves a black crust which will light the
future sulphur like spirit of wine.
If, in dressing, the silk sticks together, it is not sufficiently dry.
^^~y^i*Mu^- 4C^ui,
APPENDIX.
I risited the building where S. Wetherill canied on his manufaetoiy of
▼elrereto, fustians, dbc. ; and by conversation with his descendants, I found
that he was most enthusiastically engaged in producing goods, so as to render
the colony independent of England. He was one of those worthy men,
who entered, with all their houIs, into the cause of liberty, and in con-
sequence of the peculiar views of the Friends on the subject of war, he was
disowned ; as he maintained, in that particular exigence, the lawfulness of
defensive operations. Nothing moved from his general religious principlet,
and being a decided advocate of civil and religious liberty, he commenced
a society, still in existence in Philadelphia, called the Free Cluakers.
From a perusal of his publications, I find him a faithful enquirer after
truth and righteousness ; swayed by no consideration, but a conviction of
his own mind and the good influence of principles. He lived in a time
which tried men's souls, and he bore the trial with firmness and patience ;
and manifested to the last an unwavering patriotic spirit, religiously main-
tained while his valuable life was spared. He lived to see the fruits of in-
dependence, in the extension of national prosperity ; and in the progress of
freedom, science, and truth. I was pleased to obtain the following original
letter, which is characteristic of his kind feelings and liberal sentiments ;
and I regret that my limits will not allow me to give a fuller account of
this pioneer in American industry.*
Ballston, July 26, 1809.
My dear Rebecca,
I wrote to thee from New York the next 'day after our anival there, the
second day of the weekYollowing we set off for Albany in the steam boat :
the scenery all the way up the river is the most curious, grand, and beautiful
I ever beheld ; the shore being high mountains of rocks, little villages, and
towns, and the remains of divers fortifications made in the late revolution, in-
cluding the celebrated Stony Point, which General Arnold intended to be-
tray into the hands of General Howe, and a great number of beautiful coun-
try seats and plantations. We left Albany the next day after our arrival,
and came to Ballston the same day ; we have had a great deal of company
and a variety of amusements for such as have a relish for them. The even-
ing before last there was a ball given in compliment to the governor of Blaa-
* Mr. Wetherill also carried on the basinen of dyeing and foiling in South AKejf ;
also cbemioal works. His ancestor, came to New Jersey oeibre Wm. Penn*s arrbal in
Peonsylvuiia, and before the war of the revolntion he moved to Philadelphia, where
be followed hb trade as a carpenter, and was so decided a Friend to the oaose of lade,
pendenoe, that being disowned by the society of friends for asierting the kwfhlness ef
defensive war, whidi he defended with his pen, he with others formed a new sooielv;
and being presented by the legislatare with a lot at the corner of Mulberry and FlfUi
street, they ereolsd a brick house of worship, which still remains.
422 APPENDIX.
sachusetts, who was here on a visit. The company are genteel people who
have come far and near ; from New York, Boston, Carolina, Georgia and
Philadelphia. Great numbers are benefited by the waters together with the
amusements combined. I suspect that the journey and amusements are
a principal article in restoring health, the ball especially ; but I have re-
ceived no benefit from any or all of those means— simply trusting to the
waters, which do not appear to have done me any good, my weakness still
continuing much the same.
Farewell, my dear child, from thy grandfather ; I have a most miserable
pen, which, together with my weakness, makes it impossible to write intelli-
gibly. Thy grandmother sends her love to you all.
(Signed) Samuel Wetherill.
From a review of " Colden's Life of Fulton," published in the New Yoric
Monthly Magazine, the following interesting extracts are made : — Robert
PuLTO!? was born, of Irish parents, in Little Britain, in the county of Lan-
caster, Pennsylvania, in 1765. His family is said to have been respectable
but not rich. Mr. Golden says, that his peculiar genius manifested itself at
an early age, and that his leisure hours in childhood were spent in mecha-
nics* shops, or devoted to the pencil. The latter employment seems at that
time to have possessed the greatest attractions, for, from the age of seven-
teen to twenty-one, he painted portraits and landscapes, at Philadelphia, for
profit. He then purchased, with his little earnings, a little farm in Penn-
sylvania, upon which he established his mother. We rejoice to record this
circumstance, as we can scarcely conceive one more honourable to the
character of a young man. It proves early industry, frugality, and great
strength of filial affection. In the same year he went to England to
improve himself in his profession, as a painter, under the patronage of Mr.
West. He was for some years an inmate in the family of that gentleman.
After leaving it, he removed to Devonshire, and remained in tbat place, and
in other parts of England for some years longer — it does not clearly appear
how many — and then went to France. During the latter part of his slay in
England, he seemed to have relinquished his profession, and to have busied
himself about several projects relating chiefly to canal navigation. In
1793, he addressed (we presume from France) some general speculations
on French politics, to Lord Stanhope, who appears to have been his friend,
but though designed foi the public, they attracted little of the public atten-
tion, as his biographer does not even know whether they were ever in fact
* The following letter has induced me to select the above notice.
Ashland, 4th July, 1835.
Sir : — I received your letter transmitting a copy of your prospectus, for the publica-
tion of a memoir of the late Mr. Samuel Slater. I have been highly interested by
what 1 have heard from time to time, of his early and successful exertions to introduce
the cotton manufacture in the United States; and 1 have now in my possession some
cotton yarn spun by the first spindles which he put up, which I was informed were the
first used in the United States. Without being able to contribute to the accomplish-
roent of your undertaking, 1 shall be j^Iud to hear of its 8ucce(<sful execution. The
names of Fulton, Kvans, VViiitncy and Slater, should ever live in the grateful recoUeC'
tion of the |x;oplc of the United States. With great respect,
I am, your ob*t servant,
^fr. George S. While^ Canterbury, Connecticut. Hknry Clat,
LIFE OF FULTON. 423
published or not. In 1797, he took lodging at an hotel in Paris, with Mr.
Joel Barlow, with whom he formed so strong a friendship, that when Mr.B.
soon after removed to his own hotel, he invited Mr. F. to reside with him.
For some years Fulton was a member of the family of Mr. Barlow. He
projected a panorama, which proved successful and beneficial, and made
some experiments upon the explosion of gunpowder under water. The
French directory gave him hopes of patronising these attempts, but at length
withdrew their support. He offered the project to the Dutch government,
but it was declined. It was then offered to Bonaparte, who had become
first consul, and he appointed a commissioner with funds and power to give
the required assistance.
While in France, and probably about this period, he formed an intimate
acquaintance with Chancellor Livingston, and at that period those gentle-
men laboured conjointly in their attempts to introduce steam navigation,
which was afterwards attended with such brilliant success. In 1801, he
made several experiments with a plunging boat, designed for sub-marine
warfare, with a degree of success which seems to have been satisfactory to
himself.
The following very flattering account was given by St. Austin, a member
of the tribunal : — The diving boat, in the construction of which he is now
employed, will be capacious enough to contain eight men, and provision
for twenty days, and will be of sufficient strength and power to enable him
to plunge one hundred feet under water if necessary. He has contrived a
reservoir of air, which will enable eight men to remain under water eight
hours. When the boat is above water it has two sails, and looks just like a
common boat ; when she is to dive, the mast and sails are struck. In
making his experiments, Fulton not only remained a whole hour under
water with three of his companions, but had the boat parallel to the horizon
at any given distance. He proves that the compass points as correctly under
the water as on the surface, and that, while under water, the boat made way
at the rate of half a league an hour, by means contrived for that purpose.
If we may judge of the future from the past, it would seem necessary for
the success of these projects, to obtain the consent of those who are to be
"decomposed," which has not yet been done. Fulton was, therefore, never
able to demolish an English ship, although he watched long and anxiously
such as approached the French coast, for that purpose. The rulers of
France being at length discouraged, and Fulton thinking that the all-impor-
tant object was to blow up ships, and so that was effected, it was no great
matter to what power they might happen to belong, turned his eyes for
patronage to the English government — or they turned their eyes to him.
Mr. Golden seems very properly aware that this conduct of his friend might
make an unpleasant impression on the minds of those who were not, like
his biographer, acquainted with the elevation and philanthropy of his views,
and seeks to justify him by the following defence. It must be recollected,
that Fulton's enthusiastic notions of the advantages of a universal free
trade and liberty of the seas, had led to the inventions which he was then
endearouring to employ, and which as he supposed, would annihilate naval
armaments, the great support in his estimation of what he calls the war
system of Europe. He was persuaded, that if this system could be broken
up, all nations would direct their energies to education, the sciences, and a free
424 APPENDIX.
exchange of their natural adrantages. He was conTinced that if, on the
contrary, the Europeans continaed to cherish this war system, and to support
and augment their great naral armaments, his own country would be driren
to the necessity of protecting herself by similar establishments, which, as he
thought, would be inimical to her republican institutions, and destiuc-
tire of her happiness. Without reference, therefore, to the merits of the
then existing contest, the grounds of which were constantly changing, with-
out feeling a partiality or enmity to either of the belligerents, he was desirons
of engaging one of the nations at war to give him an opportunity of trying
the efficacy of his inrentions. If they were prored to answer his expecta-
tions, he was indifferent as to the temporary advantages it might give either
over the other. He believed that the result would be the permanent happi-
ness of all, and that in the general good his own country would laigely
participate. He considered himself as introducing a new military science,
which he wished to prove, and which he had a desire to perfect himself^ for
the benefit of his country and of mankind. His sentiments on this subject
Were not novel, nor without the sanction of the nations which they most
immediately concerned. Neither France nor England has hesitated to
encourage their citizens, with a view to their improvement in military
science, to serve in the armies and navies of foreign states at war, where they
have been neutral. " Whatever," says Mr. C. " may be the just force of this
reasoning, it swayed the mind of Mr. Fulton to honest conviction." It is
doubtful whether it will produce a similar effect on any other mind. From the
following passage we infer that the negotiations between Fulton and the
English ministry were clandestine, and were carried on at a time when he
resided in France, and was ostensibly attached to her interests : — " It has been
mentioned, that the Earl of Stanhope had taken great pains to inform him-
self as to Fulton's proceedings in France. This nobleman's mathematical
and mechanical mind perceived what consequences might result from the
application of Fulton's inventions. The information he obtained was com-
municated by the British cabinet and excited attention. It was determined
by the British ministry, if possible, to withdraw Fulton from France. Lord
Sidmouth, who was then one of the ministers, contrived to have a communi-
cation with Fulton, while he was in Paris, and obtained his consent to meet
an agent of the British government in Holland. In October, 1803, Fulton
went from Paris to Amsterdam for this purpose, but the agent with whom
he was to confer did not arrive ; and after being in Amsterdam three months
he returned to Paris. We cannot resist the impression that some light is
thrown npon Fulton's conduct by the evidence adduced for another purpose
by Mr. Coldea from Lord Stanhope, his early friend and correspondent. In
a speech on American affairs, made by Lord Stanhope in the house of lords,
soon after these experiments were made, he is reported in an English news-
paper to have said, ^ it was not perhaps sufficiently known, that at that very
moment exertions were making in America to carry into effect a plan for
the disclosure of which an individual had, a few years before, demanded of
the British government fifteen thousand dollars, but had been refused. He
alluded to a plan, he said, for the invisible destruction of shipping, and
particularly men-of-war. That the inventor of this scheme was then in
America, and it was ascertained that it would not, on an average, cost
twenty pounds to destroy any ship whatever.' While he was labouring for
LIF£ OF FULTON. 425
hit new emplojrerB, some of the torpedoes were thrown from British boats
upon French vessels, but they exploded without effect — a circumstance
which Fulton attributed to a slight, and easily rectified mistake. To erince
the correctness of his opinion, in October, 1805, he did blow up with com-
plete success a brig provided for the purpose. Still, however, the British
ministry were incredulous, and Fulton, wearied with incessant applications,
disappoiniments and neglect, at length embarked for this country." Mr.
Golden here fairly states — it would be doing injustice to the memory of
Fulton, as well as that of another ingenious native American, not to
notice, before we leave this subject, that Fulton did not pretend to have been
the first who discovered that gunpowder might be exploded with effect under
water, nor did he pretend to have been the first who attempted to apply it as
the means of hostility. He knew well what had been done by Bushnel ia
our revolutionary war. He frequently spoke of the genius of this Americaa
with great respect, and expressed a conviction that his attempts against the
enemy would have been more successful, if he had had the advantages
which he himself derived from the improvements of nearly forty years in
mechanics and mechanical physiology. We cannot but think, that it is a
very exaggerated estimate of the efficiency of Fulton's contrivances, which
induces Mr. Golden to suppose, that the '^British ministry never traly
intended to give Fulton a fair opportunity of trying the effects of his
engines." The object may have been to prevent their being placed in the
hands of an enemy ; and if thai was accomplished, it was the interest of
England, as long as she was ambitious of maintaining the proud title of
mistress of the seas, to make the world believe that Fulton's projects were
chimerical. Nothing could be more likely to produce this effect, than
abortive attempts to apply them. This would prevent other nations from
making similar experiments and discourage the inventor. In June, the
British ministry appointed a commission to examine Fulton's projects.
The commissioners were Sir Jos. Banks, Mr. Gavendish, Sir Home Pop-
ham, Major Gongreve and Mr. John Rennie. Many weeks passed before
Fulton could prevail on them to do any thing, and finally, when they met,
they reported against the sub-marine boat as being impracticable. In a
letter to the ministry, Fulton complains that this report was made without
his having been called for any explanations, and although the gentlemen
who made it had before them no account of what had been done. Indeed,
in the first interview which Fulton had with Mr. Pitt and Lord Melvile, the
latter condemned the Nautilus without a moment's consideration. If these
engines were, in truth, terrible as the biographer imagines, it would not b«
strange that the British ministry should choose to preserve the navy by
almost any means from entire demolition; and they might oppose the intro-
duction of a mode of warfare which though, in the &rst instance, it was
exerted against their enemies, would infallibly re-act against themselves
with greater effect in proportion to the superiority of their naval force. But
no such motives can be ascribed to the French republican government, and
they rejected it — no such suspicion <ian be against Bonaparte, and after a
full trial he relinquished it ; or against the Dutch government, and they
declined it ; no such policy is to be attributed to our administration, and still
we are told by Mr. Golden, ^' Mr. Fulton's plan for sub-marine warfare mel
54
426 APPENDIX.
with no countenance from the govemment. He had not been able to inspire
the ezecati^e officers with any confidence in them."
We presume also, that Commodore Rodgers is not to be accused of con-
nivance in a similar design. Besides, Mr. Golden should have weighed the
matter well before he made a charge which necessarily implies that all the
experiments made by such men as Mr. Cavendish, Sir Home Popham,
Major Congreve and Mr. Rennie, (the commissioners appointed by the
British ministry) were intended to be deceptive, and that their report was
meanly fraudulent and false. Mr. Golden has so far suffered his imagi-
nation to predominate over his better judgment upon this subject, that he
seems really to have supposed, that during the late war it was the main
object with the British navy to ascertain the part of the coast where Fnlton
might reside, and to avoid it as the particularly fulminating point of this
terrific submerged thunder. Fulton arrived in New York, in December,
1806, and immediately renewed the pursuit of the objects upon which he
had recently been engaged in Europe, that is, sub-marine war and steam
navigation.
He was encouraged by the American government, and in the summer of
1807, made several experiments, and one of them upon a large bulk brig,
(an unresisting subject,) was completely successful. The narrowness of
our limits — the necessary length of this article — and the notoriety of these
attempts, which were made in the vicinity of New York, render it unneces-
sary for us to detail them with minuteness. In March, 1810, congress
passed an act making an appropriation for trying the use of torpedoes and
submarine explosions. Gommissioners were appointed to observe the
success of the experiments, of which the sloop of war Argus, commanded
by Captain Lawrence, was to be the subject. These commissioners differed
considerably in their reports of the results to the government — Chancellor
Livingston, with whom, as we before mentioned, Fulton had formed a very
intimate acquaintance and connection in France, which subsisted during
their joint lives, was rather favourably impressed. General Lewis ('* whose
long military services, and experience," Mr. Golden thinks, "renders his
judgment on this subject deserving of the highest consideration") was very
sanguine of their ultimate success ; and such, also, was the opinion of the
biographer, then one of the commissioners. Commodore Rodgers also
made a report, which contained a journal of the daily proceedings of Fulton
and the committee, and very minute descriptions of the machines and
experiments. His opinion was entirely against Fulton's system, and he
concludes that every part of it would be found totally impracticable. A
great portion of the work is occupied by a statement of Fulton's merits and
those of his chief friend and associate Chancellor Livingston, in relation to
steam navigation. The information prevalent on the subject — the legal
discussions which have already been had, and which may hereafter arise in
relation to it — and, to speak honestly, a little distrust of our own judgment,
induce us to refrain from a minute examination of the claims which are
advanced in favour of those gentlemen. It is but fair, however, to remark,
that even if it be admitted that Fulton has done no more than reduce to
successful practice previously existing theories upon a subject of such para-
mount importance, he is entitled to praise enough to fully satisfy the ambi-
tion and affection of his friends. The increased facility of intercourse in
LIFE OF FULTON. 427
many parts of the world, aad especially on this continent, is such that
twenty years ago it would have required a bold imagination to conceive.
Can any man doubt that Fulton has been mainly instrumental in acceleratr
ing, if he did not exclusively produce, this state of things? The whole
progress of the arts show that the first discovery of a principle is usually
very remote from the perfection of the practice. This is strongly exemplified
by some facts stated by Fulton himself. In 1320, gunpowder was discovered:
one hundred and fifty years after that period, iron bullets were first used ;
muskets were unknown until two hundred years from the same time ; and
in these, the cumbrous match-lock did not give place to the fire-locks till
the beginning of the seventeenth century, that is two hundred and eighty
years after the first knowledge of gunpowder. In the year sixteen hundred
aad sixty-three, the Marquis of Worcester discovered the expansive power
of steam. Thirty-three years afterwards, Savory took out a patent for a steam
engine to pump the mines of Cornwall. In seventeen hundred and five,
Mr. Newcomen thought of a piston to the cylinder; but he worked at it
nine years before it was sufficiently improved to give it a fair prospect of
utility. Fifty-two years after Newcomen's discovery, Mr. Watt thought of
another improvement, which was the separate condenser. Thus it was an
hundred years from the time of the Marquis of Worcester, till Mr. Watt's
discovery gave the steam engine, in any degree, its present perfection ; and
rendered it so simple, familiar, and useful, as to be adapted to the many
important purposes to which it is now applied. Another striking illustra-
tion to the same efiect, and which may serve to exemplify the nature, as
well as to manifest the degree of Fulton's benefactions to the public, is to
be found in the gradual improvements effected in bis steam boats since their
establishment. We believe the average passage of the first boat between
Albany and this city, fell little short of thirty-six hours, and in some of the
present boats, it does not exceed twelve hours. Fulton's attention was
strongly attracted, during several parts of his life, to the subject of improving
internal navigation by means of canals ; and in particular he entered, with
his characteristic enthusiasm, into the magnificent project which our legisla-
ture is now attempting to realise. In 1811, he was appointed one of the
commissioners upon the subject, but he did not sanction the report which in
the subsequent year was returned to the legislature. It is not claimed by
the biographer, that either this scheme in particular or generally this branch
of improvement, has received any eminent benefit from the genius or
industry of Fulton. In February, 1814, he addressed a letter to €k>vernear
Morris, president of the board of commissioners, in which he shows what
would be the advantages of the proposed canal, and exhibits very interesting
and curious calculations of the comparative expense of transportation upon
land, upon rivers, and upon canals. The same year, Fulton, with the
other commissioners, made another report to the legislature ; this is the last
service he rendered this magnificent project. We presume that our readers
will readily excuse our omission of any account of Fulton's well known
and very extensive experiments in relation to the various modes which he
devised for submarine attack, and for transferring a large portion of naval
welfare beneath the surface of the ocean. We are told by Mr. Colden that
the steam frigate, that imposing if not efiective engine of war, owes its
origin to these experiments, although it is not apparently connected with
428 APPENDIX.
them. The untimely death of Falton ; the cessation of the war ; and the
imperfections inseparable from the infancy of all improvements, may have
prevented the full development of the powers which, perhaps, this invention
it hereafter destined to display. The occasion and manner of Fulton's death
is thus related. In January, 1815, Mr. John Livin^ton, who owned the
steamboat which plied between New York and New Jersey, but which was
stopped by the operation of the New Jersey laws, petitioned the legislature
of that state for their repeal. Ailer hearing witnesses and counsel for
aeveral days, the laws were rescinded. It was upon this occasion Fulton
was examined as a witness, as we have before stated. The weather, while
he was at Trenton, where he was much exposed, in attending the hall of
the legislature, was uncommonly cold. When he was crossing the Hudson
to return to his house and family the river was very full of ice, which occa-
sioned his being several hours on the water on a very severe day. Folton
had not a constitution to encounter such exposure, and upon his retnrn foond
himself much indisposed from the effects of it.
He had at that time great anxiety about the steam frigate ; and aAer con-
fining himself for a few days, when he was convalescent he went to give
his superintendence to the artificers employed about her : he forgot his
debilitated state of health in the interest he took in what was doing on the
frigate, and was a long time, on a bad day, exposed to the weather on her
decks. He soon found the effects of this imprudence. His indisposition
returned upon him with such violence as to confine him to his bed ; his
disorder increased, and on the 24th of February, 1816, terminated his vala-
iible life. As soon as the legislature, which was then in session at Albany,
heard of the death of Mr. Fulton, they expressed their participation in the
general sentiment, by resolving that the members of both houses should
wear mourning for some weeks. It will appear from the above slight sketch
of the life of this valuable citizen, that the three great subjects of his atten-
tion and efforts were, the improvement in the art of making canals, sob-
marine warfare and steam navigation. In relation to the first, we are not
aware that he has effected much ; in the second, he has displayed great
talent and wonderful industry, the effects and utility of which time is here-
after to develope ; and in the third he has done what should make his coun-
try proud, and the world grateful.
On the On^n of Steam Boats and Steam Wagons, by Oliver Evans.
About the year 1772, being then an apprentice to a wheel- wright, or wagon
inaker, I laboured to discover some means of propelling land carriages with-
out animal power. All the modes that have since been tried (so far as I
have heard of them), such as wind, treadles with ratchet wheels, crank
tooth, <fec., to be wrought by men, presented themselves to ray mind, but
were considered as too futile to deserve an experiment ; and I concluded
that such motion was impossible for want of a suitable original power. But
one of my brothers, on a Christmas evening, informed me that he had thai
day been in company with a neighbouring blacksmith's boys, who, for
amusement, had stopped up the touch hole of a gun barrel, then put in about
a gill of water, and rammed down a tight wad ; after which they put the
breech in the smith's fire, when it discharged itself with as loud a crack as
if it had been loaded with powder. It immediately occurred to me, that
ORIGIN OF STEAM BOATS AND CARRIAGES. 429
here was the power to propel any wa^on, if I could only apply it, and I set
myself to work to find out the means. I laboured for some time without
success. At length a book fell into my hands describing the old atmospherie
trteam engine. I was astonished to observe that they had so far erred as to
use the steam only to form a vacuum to apply the mere pressure of the
atmosphere, instead of applying the elastic power of the steam for original
motion ; the power of which I supposed irresistible. I renewed my studies
with increased ardour, and soon declared that I could make steam wagons,
and endeavoured to communicate my ideas toothers; but however practicable
the thing appeared to me, my object only excited the ridicule of those to
whom it was made known. But I persevered in my belief and confirmed it
by experiments that satisfied me of its reality. In the year 1786 I petitioned
the legislature of Pennsylvania for the exclusive right to use my improve-
ments in flour mills, as also steam wagons in that state. The committee to
whom the petition was referred heard me very patiently, while I described
the mill improvements, but my representations concerning steam wagons
made them think me insane. They however, reported favourably respecting
my improvements in the manufacture of flour, and passed an act granting
mo the exclusive use of them, as prayed for. This act is dated March 1787.
But no notice is taken of the steam wagons. A similar petition was also
presented to the legislature of Maryland. Mr. Jesse Hollingswortb, from
Baltimuie, was one of the committee appointed to hear me and report on the
ease. I candidly informed this committee of the fate of my application to
the legislature of Pennsylvania respecting the steam wagons ; declaring, at
the same time, without the encouragement prayed for, I would never attempt
to make them ; but that, if they would secure to me the right as requested,
I would, as soon as I could, apply the principle to practice ) and I explained
to them the great elastic power of steam, as well as my mode of applying
it to propel wagons. Mr. Hollingswortb very prudently observed, that the
grant could injure no one, for he did not think that any man in the world
had thought of such a thing before ; he therefore wished the encouragement
night be aflbrded, as there was a prospect that it would produce something
asefhl. This kind of argument had the desired effect, and a favourable
report was made May 21, 1787, granting to me, my heirs and assigns, for
fourteen years, the exclusive right to make and use my improvements in
flour mills and the steam wagons in that state. From that period I have
felt myself bound in honour to the state of Maryland to produce a steam
wagon as soon as I could conveniently do it. In the year 1789, 1 paid a
visit to Benjamin Charles and sons, clock makers ; men celebrated for their
ingenuity, with a view to induce them to join me in the expense and profits
of the project. I showed to them my drafts, with the plan of the engine,
and explained the expansive power of steam ; all which they appeared to
understand, but fearful of the expense and difficulties attending it, declined
the concern. However, they certified that I had shown to them the drawings
and explained the powers, dtc. In the same year, I went to Ellicott's mills
on the Patapsco, near Baltimore, for the purpose of persuading Messrs.
Jonathan Ellicott and brothers, and connections, (who were equally famous
for their ingenuity), to join me in the expense and profits of making and
using steam wagons. I also showed to them my drawings, and minutely
explained to them the powers of steam. They appeared fully to eompra-
430 APPENDIX.
hend all I said, and in return informed me of some experiments they them-
selves had made, one of which they showed me. They placed a gan-har-
rel haring a hollow arm, with a small hole on one side at the end of the
arm, similar to Barker's rotary tube mill, as described in the books ; a gill
of water put into this barrel, with fire applied to the breech, caused the steam
to issue from the end of the arm with such force, as by reaction, to cause the
machine to revolve, as I judged, about one thousand times in a minute, for
the space of about five minutes ; and with considerable force for so small a
machine. I tarried here two days, (May 10 and 11, 1789), using my best
efforts to convince them of the possibility and practicability of propelling
wagons on good turnpike roads, by the great elastic power of steam. But they
also feared the expense and difficulty of the execution, and declined the
proposition ; yet they heartily esteemed my improvements in the manufac-
ture of flour, and adopted them in their mills, as well as recommended them
to others.
In the same year I communicated my project, and explained my princi-
ples, to Levi HoUingsworth, Esq., now a merchant in Baltimore. [I certify
that Oliver Evans did about the year 1789, communicate a project to me, of
propelling land carriages by power of steam, and did solicit me to join him
in the costs and profits of the same. Levi HoUingsworth, Baltimore, Nov.
16th, 1812. I do certify, that some time about the year 1781, 31 years ago,
Oliver Evans, in conversation with me, declared, that by the power of steam
he could drive any thing ; wagons, mills, or vessels, forward, by the same
power, &C, Enoch Anderson, Nov. 15th, 1812.] He appeared to understand
them ; but also declined a partnership in the scheme for the same reasons
as the former. From the time of my discovering the principles and the
means of applying them, I often endeavoured to communicate them to those
I believed might be interested in their application to wagons or boats. But
very few could underscand my explanations, and I could find no one willing
to risk the expense of the experiment. In the year 1785 or 8Q, before I had
petitioned the legislatures, I fell in company with Samuel Jackson, of Red-
stone ; and learning of him that he resided on the western waters, I endea-
voured to impress upon his mind the great utility and high importance of
steam boats, to be propelled on them ; telling him that I had discovered a
steam engine so powerful according to its weight, that it would, by means
of paddle wheels (which I described to him) readily drive a vessel against
the current of those waters with so great speed as to be highly beneficial,
^r. Jackson proves that he understood me well, for he has lately written
letters declaring that about twenty-six years before their date, I did describe
to him the principles of the steam engine that I have since put into operation
to drive mills, which he has seen — and that I also explained to him my plan
for propelling boats by my steam engine with paddle wheels ; describing the
very kind of wheels now used for this purpose ; and that I then declared to
him my intention to apply my engine to this particular object as soon as my
pecuniary circumstances would permit. In the year 1800, or 1801, never
having found a man willing to contribute to the expense, or even to en-
courage me to risk it myself, it occurred to me that though 1 was then io
full health, I might be suddenly carried otT by the yellow fever, that had so
often visited Philadelphia; or by some other disease or casualty to which
all are liable, and that I had not yet discharged my debt of honour to the
ORIGIN OF STEAM BOATS AND CARRIAGES. 431
state of Maryland by producing the steam wagon. I determined therefore
to set to work the next day and construct one. I first waited upon Robert
Patterson, Esq., professor of mathematics in the Unirersiiy of Pennsylrania,
and explained to him my principles — as I also did to Charles Taylor, steam
engineer from England. They both declared these principles to be new to
them, and highly worthy of a fair experiment, advising me without delay to
prove them ; in hopes I might produce a more simple, cheap, and powerful
steam engine, than any in use. These gentleman were the only persons
who had such confidence, or afibrdedme such advice. I also communicated
my plans toB. F. Latrobe, Esq., at the same time ; who publicly pronounced
them chi merical, and attempted to demonstrate the absurdity of my princi-
ples, in his report to the Philosophical Society of Pennsylvania, on steam
engines ; in which same report, he also attempts to show the impossibility
of making steam boats useful, on account of the weight of the engine ; and
I was one of the persons alluded to, as being seized with the steam mania,
conceiving that wagons and boats could be propelled by steam engines. The
liberality of the members of the society caused them to reject that part of
the report which he designed as demonstrative of the absurdity of my
principles; saying they had no right to set up their opinions as a stumbling-
block in the road of any exertions to make a discovery. They said I might
produce something useful, and ordered it to be stricken out. What a pity
they did not also reject his demonstrations respecting steam boats ! for not-
withstanding them, they have run, are now running, and will run : so has
my engine, and all its principles, completely succeeded : and so will land
carriages, as soon as these principles are applied to them, as explained to the
legislature of Maryland in 1787, and to others long before. In consequence
of the determination above alluded to, I hired hands, and went to work to
make a steam wagon, and had made considerable progress in the undertaking,
when the thought struck me, that as my steam engine was entirely different
in form as well as in its principles from all others in use, that I could get a
patent for it, and apply it to mills more profitably than to wagons ; for until
now I apprehended, that as steam mills had been used in England, I could
only obtain a patent for wagons and boats. I stopped the work immediately,
and discharged my hands, until I could arrange my engine for mills, laying
aside the steam wagon for a time of more leisure. Two weeks afterwards,
I commenced the construction of a small engine for a mill to grind plaster
of Paris ; the cylinder six inches in diameter, and stroke of the piston
eighteen inches ; believing that with 81000 I could fully try the experiment
But before I was done with experiments, I found that I had expended $3,700
— all that I could command. I had now to begin the world anew at the age
of forty-eight, with a large family to support. I had calculated that if I
failed in my experiment, the credit I had would be entirely lost ; and without
money or credit, at my advanced age, with many heavy encumbrances, my
way through life appeared dark and gloomy indeed. But I succeeded per-
fectly with my little engine, and preserved my credit ; I could break and
grind 300 bushels of plaster of Paris, or 12 tons, in twenty-four hours ; and
to show its operations more fully to the public, I applied it to saw stone on
the side of Market street, where the driving of twelve saws, in heavy frames,
sawing at the rate of 100 feet of marble stone in twelve hours, made a great
show, and excited much attention. I thought this was sufficient to convince
432 APPENDIX.
the thousands of spectatois of the utility of my discoveiy : but I frequently
heard them enquire if the power could be applied to saw timber as well as
stone, to grind grain, propel boats, &c.^ and though I answered in the
affirmative, I found they still doubted. I therefore detei mined to apply my
engines to all new uses, to introduce it and them to the public This ex-
periment completely tested the correctness of my piinciples, according to
my most sanguine hopes. The power of my engine rises in a geometrical
proportion, while the consumption of fuel has only an arithmetical ratio ; in
such proportion that every time I added one fourth more to the consumption
of fuel, the powers of the engine were doubled | and that twice the quantity
of fuel required to drive one saw would drive sixteen saws at least j for
when I drove two saws the consumption was eight bushels of coals in twelve
hours, but when twelve saws were driven, the consumption was not more
than ten bushels ; so that the more we resist the steam the greater is the
effect of the engine. On these principles, very light, but powerful engine; ,
can be made, suitable for propelling boats and land-carriages, without the
great incumbrance of their own weight, as mentioned in Latrobe's demon-
strations.
In the year 1804, 1 constructed at my works, situate a mile and a half
from the water, by order of the board of health of the city of Philadelphia,
a machine for cleansing docks. It consisted of a large flat or scow, with a
steam engine of the power of five horses on board, to work machinery to
raise the mud into flats. This was a fine opportunity to show the public
that my engine could propel both land and water carriages, and I resolved
to do it. When the work was finished, I put wheels under it, and though it
was equal in weight to two hundred barrels of flour, and the wheels fixed
with wooden axle-trees, for this temporary purpose in a very rough manner,
and with great friction of course, yet with this small engine I transported
my great burthen to the Schuylkill with ease ; and when it was launched
in the water, I fixed a paddle wheel at the stem, and drove it down the
Schuylkill to the Delaware, and up the Delaware to the city, leaving all the
vessels going up, behind me, at least half way, the wind being ahead. Some
wise men undertook to ridicule my experiment of propelling this great weight
on land, because the motion was too slow to be useful. I silenced them by
answering, that I would make a carriage, to be propelled by steam, for a bet
of $3000, to run upon a level road against the swiftest horse they would pro-
duce. I was then as confident as I am now, that such velocity could be
given to carriages. Having no doubt of the great utility of steam carriages
on good turnpike roads, with proper arrangements for supplying them with
water and fuel, and believing that all turnpike companies were deeply inte-
rested in pulling them into operatioo, because they would smooth and mend
the roads, instead of injuring them as ihe narrow wheels do. On the 25th
September, 1804, I submitted to the consideration of the Lancaster turnpike
company, a statement of the costs and profits of a steam carriage to carry
one hundred barrels of flour, fifty miles in twenty-four hours — tending to
show that one such steam carriage would make more net profits than ten
wagons drawn by five horses each, on a good turnpike road, and oflering lo
build such a carriage at a very low price. My address closed as follows: —
"It is too much for an individual to put in operation every improvement
which he may invent. I have no doubt but that my engines will propel
OLIVER EVANS. 433
boats against the current of the Mississippi, and wagons on tumpike roads,
with great piofit. I now call upon those whose interest it is to carry this
invention into effect. All which is respectfully submitted for your consi-
deration."
In the year 1805, 1 published a book describing the principles of my steam
engine, with directions for working it, when applied to propel boats against
the current of the Mississippi, and carriages on turnpike roads. And I am
still willing to make a steam carriage that will run fifteen miles an hour, on
lerel railways, on condition that I have double price if it shall run with that
velocity ; and nothing for it if it shall not come up to that velocity. What
can an inventor do more than to insure the performance of his inventions?
Or, I will make the engine and apparatus at a fair price, and warrant its
utility for the purpose of conveying heavy burthens on good turnpike roads.
I feel it just to declare that, with Mr. Latrobe, I myself did believe that the
ponderous and feeble steam engine, now used in boats, could never be
made useful in competition with sail boats, or to ascend the Mississippi,
esteeming the current more powerful than it is. But I rejoice that, with
him, I have been mistaken ; for I have lived to see boats succeed well with
those engines, so as to induce the proprietors to exchange the old for the new,
more cheap and more powerful, principles. I have been highly delighted in
reading a correspondence between John Stephens, Esq. and the commis-
sioners appointed by the legislature of New York, for fixing on the scite of
the great canal proposed to be cut in that state. Mr. Stephens has taken a
most comprehensive and very ingenious view of this important subject, and
his plan of railways for the carriages to run upon removes all the difficulties
that remained. I have had the pleasure, also, of hearing gentlemen of the
keenest penetration, and of great mechanical and philosophical talents, freely
give in to the belief that steam carriages will become very useful. John
Ellicott proposed to make roads of substances such as the best turnpikes are
made with, with a path for each wheel to run on, having a railway on posts
in the middle, to guide tbe tongue of the wagon, and to prevent any other
carriage from traveling on it. Then, if the wheels were made broad and
the paths smooth, there would be very little wear. Such roads might be
cheaply made ; they would last a long time and require very little repair.
Such roads, I am inclined to believe, ought tu be preferred, in the first
instance, to those proposed by Mr. Stephens, as two ways could be made in
some parts of the country for the same expense as one would be with wood ;
but either of the modes would answer the purpose, and the carriages might
travel by night as well as in the day. When we reflect upon the obstinate
opposition that has been made by a great majority to every step towards
improvement : from bad roads to turnpikes, from turnpikes to canals, from
canals to railways for horse carriages, it is too much to expect tbe monstrous
leap from bad roads to railways for steam carriages. But why may not the
present generation, who have already good turnpikes, make the experiment
of using steam carriages upon them 1 They will assuredly efiect the move*
ment of heavy burthens, with a slow motion of two and a half miles an hour,
and as their progress need not be interrupted, they may travel fifty or sixty
miles in the twenty-four hours. This is all that I hope to see in my time,
and though I never expect to be concerned in any business reqniring the
regular transportation of heavy burthens on land, because if I am coiuiected
55
434 APPENDIX.
in the afikira of a mill it shall be driven by steam and placed on some navi-
gable water, to save land carriage, yet I certainly intend, as soon as I can
make it convenient, to build a steam carriage that will run on good turnpike
roads, on my own account, if no other person will engage in it ; and I do
Terily believe that the time will come when carriages propelled by steam
will be in general use, as well for the transportation of passengers as goods,
traveling at the rate of fifteen miles an hour, or three hundred miles per day.
It appears necessary to give the reader some idea of the principles of the
steam engine, which is lo produce such novel and strange effects ; and this
I will endeavour to do in as few words as I can, by showing the extent to
which the principles are applied already. To make steam as irresistible or
powerful as gunpowder, we have only to confine and increase the heat by
fuel to the boiler. A steam engine with a working cylinder only nine inches
in diameter, and a stroke of the piston three feet, will exert a power suffi-
cient to lift from 3,000 to 10,000 pounds perpendicularly, two and a half
miles per hour. This power applied to propel a carriage on level roads or rail-
ways would drive a very great weight with much velocity, before the friction
of the axle-tree or resistance of the atmosphere would balance it. This is
not speculative theory, the principles are now in practice ; driving a saw-
mill at Manchacks on the Mississippi, two at Natchez, one of which is
capable of sawing 5000 feet of boards in 12 hours ; a mill at Pittsburgh able
to grind twenty bushels of grain per hour ; one at Marietta of equal powers ;
one at Lexington of the same powers ; one, a paper mill, of the same ; one
of one -fourth the power at Pittsburgh ; one at the same place of three and a
half times the power for the forge, and for rolling and splitting sheet iron ;
one of the power of twenty-four horses, at Middletown, Conn, driving the
machinery of a cloth manufactory : two at Philadelphia of the power of five
or six horses, and many making for different purposes ; the principles apply-
ing to all purposes where power is wanted.
OuvER Evans.
Ellicotfa Mills on the Patapsco, Nov. 12, 1812.
To the Honourable the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, and the
Attorney General; the petition of John Fitch, of the city of PhiladelphiOy
humbly showeth :
That your petitioner, in the spring of the year 1785, conceived the idea of
applying steam to the purpose of propelling vessels through the water: that,
fully satisfied, in his own mind, of the practicability of such a scheme, of its
great immediate utility, and the important advantages which would in future
result therefrom, not only to America, but the world at large, if the scheme
should be carried into effectual operation, he divested himself of every other
occupation, and undertook the arduous task, not doubting, that when perfected
he should be amply rewarded. In his first attempts to procure assistance
from congress, and the legislatures of many of the states, from the peculiar
situation of her finances, and the seeming impossibility of the success of his
scheme, he met with no relief. Not entirely discouraged by these disappoint-
ments, he continued his application to his project, and prayed several of the
states for an exclusive 'right to the use of fire and steam to navigation': that
New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia granted him
JOHN FITCH. 436
an exclusive right, agreeably to the prayer of his petition, for fourteen yemit.
— That the impracticability of procuring experienced workmen in America}
your petitioner's total ignorance of the construction of a steam engine, to-
gether with the necessary deviations from the form described in books, ill
order to accommodate its weight and bulk to the narrow limits of a vesseli
have caused him not only to expend about eight thousand dollars in succes*
sive experiments, but nearly four years of some of his grants have expired,
before he has been able to bring his engine to such a degree of perfection as
to be carried into use.
That having, at length, fully succeeded in his scheme, proofs of which he
is prepared to offer, he trusts he now comes forward, not as an imaginary
projector, but as a man who, contrary to the popular expectation, has really
accomplished a design which, on examination, will clearly evince the many
and important advantages which must result therefrom to the United States,
some of which your petitioner begs leave to enumerate.
The western waters of the United States, which have hitherto been navi-
gated with difficulty and expense, may now be ascended with safety, con-
veniency and great velocity ; consequently, by these means, an immediate
increased value will be given to the western territoiy : all the internal waters
of the United States will be rendered much more convenient and safe, and
the carriage on them much more expeditious ; that from these advantages
will result a great saving in the labour of men and horses, as well as ex-
pense to the traveller.
Your petitioner also conceives, that the introduction of a complete steam
engine, formed upon the newest and best principles, into such a country as
America, where labour is' high, would entitle him to a public countenance
and encouragement, independent of its use in navigation ; he begs leave to
say that the great length of time, and vast sums of money, expended in
bringing the scheme to perfection have been wholly occasioned by his total
ignorance of the improved state of steam engines, a perfect knowledge of
which has not been acquired, without an infinite number of fruitless experi-
ments ; for not a person could be found who was acquainted with the minutia
of Bolton and Watt's new engine ; and whether your petitioner's engine is
similar or not to those in England, be is to this moment totally ignorant; but
is happy to say, that he is now able to make a complete steam engine, which
in its effects, he believes, is equal to the best in Europe ; the construction of
which he has never kept a secret.
That on his first undertaking the scheme, he knew there were a great
number of ways of applying the power of steam to the propelling of vessels
through the water, perhaps all equally effective ; but this formed no part of
his consideration, knowing, that if he could bring his steam engine to work
in a boat, he would be under no difficulty in applying its force ; therefore he
trusts no interference with him in propelling boats by steam, under any pre-
tence of a different mode of application, will be permitted ; for should that
be the case, the employment of his time, and the amazing expense attending
the perfecting his scheme, would, whilst they gave the world a valuable dis-
covery, and to America peculiar and important advantages, eventuate in the
total ruin of your petitioner ; for a thousand different modes may be applied by
subsequent navigators, all of them benefiting by the expense and persevering
labour of your petitioner, and thus sharing with him those profits, which they
436 APPENDIX.
neirer earned ; such a conseqaence he is confident will not be pennitted bf
yotir honourable body.
Your petitioner therefore prays that your honours will take the sulyect of
his petition into consideration, and by granting him an exclusive right to the
use of steam navigation, for a limited time, do him that justice which he
conceives he merits, and which he trusts will redound to the honour and
add to the true interest of America : and your petitioner, as in doty bound,
shall ever pray. Jobn Fitcb.
New Yorky 22d June, 1790.
CERTIFICATE.
District of Columbik, Washington county,
At the request of Dr. William Thornton, of this county, peisonally ap-
peared before me, the subscriber, one of the justices of the peace for the said
county, Oliver Evans of Philadelphia, who solemnly affirmed, that when
John Fitch and his company were engaged in constructing their steamboat
in Philadelphia, he, the said Oliver, suggested to the said John Fitch the
plan of driving and propelling the said boat by paddle or flutter wheels at
the sides of the boat ; when the said Fitch or some other person, but he
thinks it was Fitch, informed him that one of the company had already pro-
posed and urged the use of wheels at the sides, but that he had objected to
them. The said Oliver also states that he afterwards mentioned the same
to Henry Voight, one of the members of that company, who said that Dr.
William Thornton, also a member of the same, was the person who had
proposed the said paddle or flutter wheels at the sides of the boat, but that
both himself and John Fitch had objected to them.
The said Oliver further saith, that Robert Fulton, tbe patentee of steam
boats in the state of New York, had observed to him, that he deemed it im-
possible to drive a boat or vessel, by steam, at a greater speed than five
miles per hour: but the said Oliver says, he had understood Fitch's boat had
far exceeded that speed, and that Fitch's experiment had completely suc-
ceeded to show that boats could be driven by steam to advantage ; and also
that when the said John Fitch was afterwards setting out for the western
country, he called on the said Oliver at his house, and declared his intention
to be to form a company, to establish steamboats on the western waters ; of
the advantages of which he appeared to have formed vast conceptions and
great expectations. The said Oliver also saith, that some time about the
years 1786, 1787, or 1788, the said Fitch informed him that he contemplated
employing bis steamboat on the lakes, and meant to construct them with
two keels, to answer as runners, and when the lakes should freeze over he
would raise his boat on the ice, and by a wheel on each side, with spikes in
the rims, to take hold of the ice, he calculated it would be possible to run
thirty miles an hour. And also that he meant to tow boats and other floats
hy steamboats.
(Signed) Oliver Evans.
Affirmed to before the subscriber, one of the justices of the peace for
Washington county, Columbia, this I6th day of December, 1814.
Joseph Forrest.
WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. 437
On the Origin of the Woollen TVade in England, cfc.
Wool has been considered at all times as a valuable commodity ; we find
the use of wool in the earliest periods, and flocks of sheep are mentioned in
the first ages of mankind ; kings have not been ashamed to employ them"
selves in the care of them. The patriarch Abraham had flocks, and the
Israelites of that early time employed themselves in the care of them ; their
neighbours, the Midianites, had such numbers, that the Israelites took
among the spoil more than six hundred thousand ; and two hundred and
fifty thousand were taken from the Hagarites by the sons of Reuben. The
Ethiopians had sheep ; for when Asa conquered a part of their country, he
carried them away in abundance. The Arabians at the same period had
also sheep, for they brought more than seven thousand rams at one time to
Jehoshaphat ; and the Moabites must have bred them in great quantity, for
Mesha, king of that country, rendered to the king of Israel a hundred thou-
sand lambs, and a hundred thousand rams. These are passages of history
delivered in the Old Testament ; and by these we find that at this remote time
the Israelites had sheep in great abundance, aud that the Midianites and
Hagarites,- the Ethopians and the Arabians, and the Moabites, fed them also
in vast numbers. There is an account of sheep bred, in a manner, all over
the eastern quarter of the world ; and we have occasional mention of the
same creature making a chief object of the care, and a principal article in
the riles, of the Amalekites, the Philistines, and the people of Damascus.
We see a great part of the quarter of the world then most inhabited, devoted
to the care of this useful animal. This creature was not bred only for its
flesh ; the mention of wool is made in some of these passages, and in others
there are allusions to the implements of weaving, and of the method of pre-
paring wool for the loom. That the Israelites fed sheep for the wool, may
be seen by the tithe exacted on it. The first of the fleece is declared the
due of the priest : and that other countries knew its value in the same man-
ner is plain, from an instance in the present of the Moabitish king, before
named, which is, that the rams were given with their wool. The siafi" of
Goliah's spear is said to equal a weaver's beam. The fuller's field is men-
tioned in Isaiah, and by the prophet Malachi ; and Ezekiel calls the people
of Damascus, "merchants in white wool." These passages are the sum-
mary of what is said concerning flocks of sheep, their wool and its manufac-
ture, in the scriptures; and they show that the shearing of sheep, the use of
woo], the manufacturing into cloth, and the preparing that cloth by .fulling,
were articles known in the earliest time. It establishes the care of this
animal, and the use of its fleece, upon a very great authority of ancient
history ; it produces examples that may animate all persons to interest them-
selves in the care and management of its fleece, and legislative powers to
establish and encourage the manufacture of it. This attention of individuals
and of public authority, is greatly wanting at present in America, for the
advancement of our woollen manufactures; let those who sit in high places
remember the ^^ wool-sack." All old historians mention the care of flocks,
and value of their wool: the Greeks used it for the purposes of clothing,
and they refer to times much earlier than their own, as familiar in the same
use ; the Tyrian purple was employed in dyeing woollen cloth, and the early
expedition of the Argonauts to Colchis for what was called the golden
fleece, was no more than a voyage in search of this commodity. Naturalists
438 APPENDIX.
may suppose their voyage was in search of gold, and the adepts pretend the
secret of the philosopher's stone was couched under this mystery ; but plain
reason and the most authentic accounts of this transaction say nothing more
than this : that the people of Colchis understood the management of sheep,
and the manufacturing of their wool, better than any other nation of that
time, and that Jason and his partners in that expedition, after encountering
many dangers at sea, brought back a quantity of the wool, and a number of
the natives to manage the same article in their country. The city of
Corinth became afterwards a general mart for wool; and after Pompey had
dispersed the pirates, the same article was a very considerable branch of
the commerce carried along the coasts of the Mediterranean. Spain is men-
tioned with great commendation for the wool it produced in those timea^
and the manufactures made from it ; some attribute the invention of weaving
woollen cloth to the people of that nation. Wool was received in early
times from many parts of the Euxine ; and the trade of the Baltic was, in a
great measure, supported by it. The Armenians obtained wool and woollen
cloths of the Turks, in exchange for horses; and Rome, in somewhat later
times, received woollen manufactures from Alexandria. This all stands esta-
blished on the best authorities, and is related by all the authors who have
had occasiion to mention the commerce of those ages. In the East they less
regard the produce of wool now, because their principal manufactures are
in silk and cottons, but there is a great deal of very fine wool in Asia, Syria,
and Persia. They have a particular breed of sheep, whose wool is long
and grayish, and they make certain peculiar manufactures of it, and those
much esteemed. In China and the East Indies the produce of wool is so
great, that they shear their sheep three times a year. One of the earliest
notices we have of sheep in Britain, with respect to their value, is found in
Stillingfleet, who tell us, that between 712 and 727, were made certain laws
of King Ina, and in those a price was set upon sheep. The price of an ewe
and her lamb together, till a fortnight after Easter, is set down at one shil-
ling. The value of money was then very different from what it is now, but
this, with all the allowance that can be made on that head, is but a very
poor price. Alfred, famous for the care of arts and commerce, took no small
pains to improve this manufacture, but it did not much succeed. In the
year 8S5, he set about this great work, but wolves were too numerous in the
island to let sheep be kept in safety. The consequence of the encourage-
ment Alfred gave to the raising of sheep was seen in the succeeding years ;
for in 918, Edward, who had married the daughter of a country gentleman,
distinguished by the regard he had shown to this great concern, and thence
called by those who little understood what they read in earlier writers, a
shepherd, had his own daughters instructed in the art of carding, spinning,
and manufacturing wool. This double patronage bestowed by Edward, the
countenance he gave to one who employed himself in breeding sheep, and
to the example he set in making his daughters work the wool, was of so
much assistance to the manufacture, that the pasturage of the southern coun-
tries became soon occupied in feeding sheep, and every one fond of recom-
mending himself to the royal favour became a shepherd, or at least employed
his attention greatly on that article. The value of the sheep rose in propor-
tion to the number, for with the increase in quantity of wool the numbers
of manufacturers increased, and the demand for it enlarged. Richard I. in
WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. 439
the year 1173, returning from the holy war, was taken prisoner by the Duke
of Austria. A vast ransom was required, and toward raising it one year's
wool was demanded from two abbeys. This is a passage recorded by
Rapin, and is supported on the best authorities; and this shows, though we
have not had any regular account, that all the time the piice of sheep was
increasing, the value of wool was also rising, and that this was the princi-
pal cause of their increase of value. When quantities of wool began to be
exported, the manufacturing of it at home increased ; about thirty years aAer
England found the way of serving her neighbours with wool, they improved
in the art of dyeing. At first, wool was only wrought up in a coarse plain
way, for the clothing of the farmer and his family ; by degrees those who
best understood the working it up, brought what they had to spare to market.
But all this time the wool was only wrought up as it was furnished by the
sheep, and all cloth was of the same colour; when the legislature encouraged
its manufacture it continued to prosper.
We find by those accounts how little historians and others have considered
this important work. Those who speak of the manufacture of broad cloths
in England, follow one another in placing the time of their being first made
at the year 1331. But we find they were made in 1220.
In 1284, foreign merchants were permitted to establish themselves in the
kingdom, for the encouragement of the woollen manufactures. They had,
till that time, only been allowed to board, and could not trade otherwise
than by making their landlords their brokers ; but now they were per-
mitted to traffic in their own names ; and the privilege granted to them was
of the utmost benefit to the trade. So vastly did the trade increase and the
manufacture flourish, that a few years after we find the traffic very flourish-
ing in London, and several of the sea-port towns. From this period the
woollen trade became an object, more than ever, of the public concern.
Persons of all nations who could improve the manufacture of broad cloth,
were encouraged to come over: and among numbers, brought under great
encouragements from Flanders, Brabant, and Zealand, there were some so
worthy of the advantages they received, that they soon set the trade upon a
most respectable footing abroad, and upon the most profitable foundation at
home. In consequence of the greater traffic in this article, the price rose ;
and more assistances were drawn from it for the slate: in the reign of
Edward III. we read of subsidy after subsidy, on wool : and in the reign of
Richard II. more subsidies were demanded ; the trades complained, and the
matter being candidly examined, it appeared that though they were not
without reason of complaint, the trade could bear more loads, and still make
fortunes. In the reign of Richard III., though the* traffic was encumbered
with large subsidies, it increased continually. In the reign of Henry VIL
the greatest regard was shown to trade in every article, and in none roor^
than this: the exportation of wool was limited, and the manufacture of
cloths increased accordingly. In the reign of Henry VIII. the produce of
wool was greater than at any lime before ; and its price increased with the
quantity; farmers were laid under limitations, as to the number of sheep
they were to keep ; but these were very extensive, and we may see by the
account preserved of this transaction, and of the price of things at that lime,
to what an advance the care of that animal, and the price of its flesh and
wool, had arisen.
440 APPENDIX.
Husbandry had been, in early times, little understood in England ; but the
regard to wool, the demand for which was so considerable, and the price so
large, gave a spirit to the people, which has continued to the present time.
The care of the pasturage grew with the number of enclosures, and the
thriving of sheep and the price of wool rose with it. It sold, in this reign,
dearer than in any of the preceding. Statutes were made, from time to
time, to encourage the manufacture of cloths, and marts were established in
different places. In the reign of Philip and Mary, the subsidies granted to
Edward VI. were continued: many good statutes were enacted in favour of
the woollen manufacture, in this reign; and it throve greatly under the
prudent regulations which were established, and extended itself to many
parts of the kingdom. In dueen Elizabeth's time a subsidy was granted for
life, included in tonnage and poundage : many good statutes were made, and
numbers of the French and Flemish, leaving their native country because
of persecution, brought over their secrets, and increased our credit. In this
reign, wool rose from its former price. We may establish the period from
the end of the reign of Edward VI. to the end of dueen Elizabeth's, as the
most flourishing of all times for the wool trade of England up to the last
century.
The Worsted or Long Wool Manufacture.^
The reason why a long stapled, strong, and firm, though somewhat coarse
wool, is best adapted for worsted stuffs, is because they require a fine smooth
yarn, which shall have little or no tendency to shrink, curl, and felt, when
made into cloth. Heuce the fibres must not be entangled and crossed by
carding, but on the contrary, be disposed as nearly as possible in parallel
lines, by a peculiar conibing operation. The yarn thereby producible will
be comparatively level, slender, and hard, fit for warping and wefting into
finer and more compact goods. The first process to which the long wool is
subjected, in a worsted factory, is washing, which is performed exclusively
by men, with soap and water. They are paid by quantity, each man being
attended by a boy, who receives the wool as it issues from between the
two rollers in front of the washer, which squeeze out the greatest part of the
moisture. The wool is then carried by the boy, in large baskets, to the dry-
ing room, where it is spread upon the floor. The drying-room is generally
placed over the boilers of the steam engine, and is thus kept at a high tem-
perature. After drying, the wool is removed to a machine called the plucker,
which is always attended by a boy. His business is to lay the tufts of wool
even, in an endless web, on an apron, which, as it travels forward, delivers
the wool to a pair of spiked rollers, by which it is carried to the interior ap-
paratus, which is somewhat similar to the willow employed in the cotton
factories, and thence it is blown out at the opposite side. The use of this
mechanism is to clean and straighten the fibres of the wool, and to prepare
it for the next machine, the comb-card. In the old routine of the trade, and
* Worsted is a thread spun of wool that has been combed, and which, in the spinning,
is twisted harder than ordinarily. It was chiefly used formerly, either to be woven into
stockings, caps, gloves, 9cv,. VVorslcd has obtained its name from Worstead, a market
town in the county of Norfolk, England ; where the manufacture of the article was
first introduced.
WORSTED MACHINERY.
441
still for the finest description of work, the wool is not carded in the factory,
but is given out to the wool combers, who comb it by hand.
Three implements are in common use for combing long wool : — 1, a paif of
combs for each workman : 2, a post to which either of the combs can be
fixed : and 3. a comb-pot or small stove, for heating the teeth of the combs.
Each comb is composed of two rows of tapering pointed steel teeth, dis-
posed in two parallel planes ; of which one row is longer than the other.
They are fixed into a wooden stock or head which is covered with horn, and
has a handle fixed into it, peipendicular to the planes of the teeth-range.
The space between these planes is only one-third of an inch at the bottom
of the teeth. The combtt used for the last combing have three rows of teeth,
In the work shop a post is fixed, in order to support the combs occasionally
during the process. An iron stem is fixed into it, which has an upturned point,
for passing through a hole of the handle of the comb, while it has a staple
pin at its inner end, for entering into the hollow extremity of the handle,
and by the two fixtures holding it fast to the post. The stove consists of a
flat iron plate, headed by a fire, or by steam, and surmounted by another plats
for confining the heat. Into a small space left between the two plates, the
teeth of the combs are introduced.
In combing the wool, 'the workman separates it into handfuls of aboat
four ounces each, sprinkles it with oil, and rolls up in his hands, to smear it
uniformly. The proportion of oil varies from a fortieth to a sixteenth of the
weight in wool. Having fastened a heated comb to the post with its teeth
upwards, the workman takes one half of that quantity of wool in his hand,
and, throwing it over the points of the comb, draws it through them, and so
repeatedly, a portion of wool remaining each time in the comb. When all
the wool is gathered on the teeth, the comb is placed with its points in the
stove, and the wool hanging on the outside receives a portion of the heat.
The other comb, now hot, is fixed to the post, and filled in its torn, with
the other half of the four ounces of wool, and is then removed to the stove,
like the first. When both combs are properly warmed, the comber holds one
of them, with his leA hand over his knee, as he is seated on a low stool,
and with the other comb, held in his right hand, he combs the wool upon
the first, by introducing the points of the teeth of one comb into the wool
contained in the other, and drawing them through it. This is repeated till
the fibres are laid parallel. He always begins by introducing the points of
the teeth of one comb first into the extremity of the fleece contained in the
teeth of the other comb, and he then advances deeper at each succeeding
stroke, till, eventually, he works the combs as closely together as possible
without bringing their teeth into collision ; otherwise, he could not draw
the comb through the wool without breaking its fibres, or tearing the wool
out of the teeth of the comb. The short wool which remains on the teeth
of the comb at last, because it does not reach the place where the comber
grasps it, is called noylj and is unfit for worsted spinning ; it amounts to
about an eighth of the new wool by weight.
The wool which is drawn off* from the oomb forms a continuous sliver or
band, with straight parallel fibres, but is still not ready for the spinning
machine, till combed again at a somewhat lower temperature. When the
process is complete, the wool is formed into parcels containing ten or eleven
slivers each.
66
442 APPENDIX.
A great many self-acting machines have been contrived for performing
the wool-combing operations. One was made the subject of a patent by
John Piatt, of Salford, 1827, being an invention communicated to him by a
foreigner. This machine is intended to comb wool by means of two revolv-
ing combs or heckles. It consists of a square frame of iron mounted upon
legs, and two axles, upon each of which one of the circular combs is mounted.
These axles are not placed in horizontal positions, but are inclined at acute
angles to the horizon, and in directions crossing each other. These combs
are made in the form of ordinary wheels, with arms, of which the nave is
attached to the axle by screws. The points or teeth are set in the edge of
the rim, at right angles to the axis of the wheel, and are made to revolve in
opposite directions by means of a crossed or twisted strap, running over a
pulley on each axle ; these being driven by a band and rigger, or power
pulley, on the end of the axle. As the comb wheels go round they are made
to approach each other slowly. This approach is caused by mounting the
bearings of the axle in slots, which allow of their sliding, and enable that
axle and its circular comb to be brought towards the circular comb on the
axle. This traverse movement is effected by an endless screw and toothed
wheel, or snail work, connected to the under part of the frame. This
mechanism gradually moves the axle in a lateral direction, while the twisted
strap which connects the two axles, and drives, by rotation, is kept at its
proper tension, as the circular combs approach each other by means of a
heavy roller, which hangs on a jointed lever. In putting this comb in opera-
tion, the proper quantity of wool, in its entangled state, is to be stuck
between the teeth, and when the wheels are set in rapid rotary motion, the
loose ends of the fleece will, by the centrifugal force, be thrown out in the
direction of radii, and will catch against the points of the teeth of the other
revolving comb, whereby the fibres will be drawn out and straightened. The
operation is to commence when the comb- wheels are at their greatest dis-
tance apart. As they slowly approach each other, the ends or fibres of the
wool will be laid hold of by the teeth-points, at progressively increasing
depths, until the wheels come near together; by which time the whole
length of the staple will have been combed out smooth, and will be then
drawn from the comb, by throwing the driving-belt, as usual, on a loose
pulley. The noyls^ or short refuse wool, which remains entangled among
the teeth being removed, the machine is charged for another operation.
In one of these large machines, the comb-wheels are ten feet in diameter,
and are furnished with hollow iron spokes filled with steam, which keep the
whole apparatus at a proper combing heat. These wheels are made to
revolve slowly, while a boy, seated on the ground, dresses one of them with
wool ; they are then made to revolve with great rapidity, by shifting the
driving-belt on the proper pulley, during which revolution they gradually
approach each other. Such machines will supersede the hand comb.
The breaking frame is the next machine in the worsted manufacture, and
is, in fact, a continuous form of corah or card, called by the French the de-
feutreur, from its opening out any felted fibres. It represents a vertical
section of a breaking comb, for the purpose of explaining the principles of its
action. A frame for carrying the machines, of which there are usually four
alongside of one another, each from four to six inches broad. The front or
feeding pair of rollers, three inches in diameter, the upper one bearing by a
WORSTED MACHINERY. 443
weight suspended to its axis oq the under ; the continuous lower comb, and
the upper comb going with the same velocity as the lower. (See Dr. Urb
on Worsted,) The rows of teeth slope gently forwards, and alternate with
the teeth of the other comb ; thus the row of the one corresponds to the middle
of the two other rows. Fluted cylinders, which cause the rotation of the end-
less chain of combs. Counter cylinders, fluted in like manner. The forked
bearings in which these turn are so mounted as to permit the comb-chain to
be stretched. Small tension-cylinders, for giving a proper direction to each
comb. The second pair of rollers, which takes the wool from the combs.
These rollers are like the first, made of wood, and of the same diameter.
The under one of this pair is kept clean by a brush. On its axis the fast
and loose power pulleys are fixed, which give motion to the whole machine.
The upper roller is furnished with wiper-wings ; that is, its surface is co-
vered with a series of small leaves of parchment, held by one of their edges
with little clamps, or keys, in grooves cut lengthwise on their surface. The
same cylinder is firmly pressed down on the lower one by a loaded steelyard.
The speed of the first pair of rollers is to that of the second as one to four,
and the velocity of the comb-train is the geometrical mean between them,
or two. Too great a velocity in these parts would be apt to knot and felt
the wool ; and it must not therefore exceed above five or six inches in a
second. A copper funnel, or trumpet mouth, for conducting the sliver deli-
vered by the second rollers. The third pair of rollers turning with a little
more velocity than the second pair, only in consequence of having a diameter
a little greater.
The comb of this continuous machine is formed of a series of small rect-
angular pieces of tin-plate, hinged] together, the half of one overlapping that
of the other, like slates on a roof. These pieces are struck out by a punch,
which leaves at their four corners little discs which are afterwards bent back
to a right angle by a pair of plyers, and which serve to make the hinge
joints. (Philosophy of Manufactures.) While the chain is advancing in a
straight line, the teeth soldered to the lower tin-plate present the whole of
their projection, minus the thickness of the upper plate, which is here cleft;
but in proportion as these plates come upon the fluted cylinders which drive
them, the plates cease to lie flat on each other, and become inclined by the
curvature of the cylinders. The part cut through for the passage of the teeth
recedes, or turns out of the way, and thereby passes by the extremities of
the teeth ; thus getting disengaged from the fibres of the wool, and allowing
them to be immediately seized by the second pair of rollers. In this way
each piece of tin plate acts both as a tooth and a disengaging bar. It is ob-
vious that the upper and the lower combs, during their parallel progress, by
means of their alternate rows of teeth passing between each other, like the
fingers of our two hands, perform a double combing at a single stroke upon
the cardings introduced in pairs at the feeding rollers.
The sliver delivered by the roller, proceeds next to a large bobbin or cy-
linder, round which it is lapped, till the whole> combing is entirely wound
up. It is again passed through another chain-comb like the preceding,
furnished with finer and closer-set teeth ; and in this process the sliver, is
doubled, to give greater uniformity to the fleece. The person who attends
this machine, (invariably a young boy or girl,) is called the feeder. His
business is to weigh the wool, and spread it in definite quantities on a travel-
444 APPENDIX.
ing apron, which feeds the first piiir of rollers. The attention of the feeder
is necessarily invariable while the engine is at work, as the uniformity of
the thread finally produced depends, in no small degree, on his accuracy.
The film of wool at open drawing, on its delivery from its first pair of rollers
it collected through a funnel mouth, and either lapped on a cylinder or re-
ceived in a tin can, and broken ofi* when the can is full. An empty can is
then set in the place of the full one.
The machines for reducing, and at the same time equalising, by doubling
the open drawings of long wool, are constructed on the same principle as
the drawing frame of a cotton-mill, only the distance between the first and
last pair of rollers is much greater, on account of the greater length of the
wool-staple. The drawing operation is performed by the first pair of rollers
moving more slowly than the last pair, whereby the soft woolly riband is
extended in length proportionally to that difference of velocity.
Hitbeito, no degree oi torsion has been given to the slender fillet ; but a
little twist must now be introduced to preserve its cohesion, in its progression
towards the state of a fine thread.
The following description of a roving apparatus for long wool will com-
municate a tolerably distinct idea of the process.
The sections of two pair of rollers, the lower ones being made of iron, and
fluted ; the upper being of wood, covered with leather. Pressure is exercised
by the upper on the under ones by means of weights suspended by curved
rods from the ends of the axes of the upper rollers. The first roller motes
faster than the second, in the proportion of two and a half or three to one,
according to the nature of the wool. The second roller rests on a moveable
bearer, which permits it to be placed nearer to, or farther from, the first
roller. A cylinder mounted with pins, which revolves very slowly on its
axis, and delivers to the second roller, moving with' a treble velocity, the
open drawings of wool supplied by the feeding roller. A spindle, having
one leg of its forked flyer tubular, through which the roving passes in its way
to the bobbin. The spindle turns very slowly, so as to give no more twist
to the filaments than may be necessary to secure the formation of an uniform
•oil cord during their extension. The up and down motion of the bobbin is
given by an eccentric acting on the copping-rail.
The general manner of spinning long wool into a finer thread : — Here are
three pairs of drawing rollers ; the first two of which are supported on move-
able bearings, or brass brushes, which allow of their being separated, more
or less, from one another, and also from the other roller, to suit the staple of
the wool. The ratio of the speed of the first and last pair of rollers is as
one to four. The roller serves merely to bear up the fine roving ; its velo-
city is therefore a mean between that of the other two. The bobbins filled
with rovings made on the previously described machine, are arranged, be-
hind the back drawing roller, in a creel-frame, so that three rovings together
may pass through the funnel or eyelet, placed opposite the middle of this
roller. The roving is never reduced to its ultimate fineness by passing
through two or three such machines, but it passes successively through five
or six of them, receiving not only extension, but an equalising combination
every time. At last, the fine yam is formed by a spinning frame, or throstle,
which may contain two hundred and fifty-four spindles on each side, fur-
nished with a four-fold set of drawing rollers. The back and the front
WORSTED MACHINERY. 445
pairs of rollers alone are loaded by a suspended weighted lever. The upper
rollers of the two middle pairs are of lead, and press merely by their weight
The ratio of the velocities of the extreme pairs of rollers is here as one is to
six, eight or ten, according to the fineness of the roving, and the number of
yarn wanted. In this final spinning there is no doubling operation ; but
single bobbins are set on skewers in the reel in correspondence with the
single spindles on the copping rail. The number of doublings in this pro-
cess of drawing and roving long wool, may amount in certain cases to
several thousand.
The spindles should revolve very quickly in the spinning frame, in order
to give the requisite degree of twist to the worsted. The hardest twisted
worsted is called tammy warp ; and when its fineness is such as to contain
twenty-four hanks to the pound weight, the twist is about ten or twelve
turns in every inch length. The least twist is given to the hosiery worsted
yam, which runs from eighteen to twenty-four hanks to the pound weight.
The twist is only from five to six turns per inch. The degree of twist is
regulated by the size of the wharves or whorls upon the spindles, and the
speed of the front rollers, in the spinning of which, on the fine mule, extra-
ordinary nicety of adjustment is required.
A hank of worsted yarn contains ^ve hundred and sixty yards ; and it is
divided into seven lays, of eighty yards each. Some count hanks of eight
hundred and forty yards, like those of cotton yarn.
The roving frames have much fewer spindles than the fine spinning
frame ; some of them are two spindle, some of them four spindle, others six
spindle-frames, dec., which all repeat, however, the similar process of dou-
bling threads and passing under drawing rollers, so as to give successive
draughts to the spongy cords, and to maintain their perfect equality of tex-
ture. Girls from sixteen to twenty and upwards, are generally employed at
drawing, roving and spinning frames. At the former two they earn from
6tf. to 78. each, weekly ; at the last, from 9«. to lOs.
Dates of Circumstances and Occurrences connected icith Manufactures;
1756. Cotton velvets and quiltings first made in England.
1768. The stocking frame applied to make lace by Hammond.
1774. A bill passed to prevent the export of machinery used in cotton
factories.
1779. Mule spinning, by Crompton.
1794. Sewing cotton made by S. Slater.
1803. First cotton factory in New Hampshire.
1810. Digest of cotton manufactures in the United States by Mr. Gallatin,
and another by Tench Coxe, Esq ; and public attention drawn to their grow-
ing importance.
1815. The power loom introduced into the United States, by Gilmore,
(R. I.) afterwards more perfectly at Waltham, Massachusetts, where the
latest improvements in machinery were obtained.
1822. First cotton factory erected at LowelL
1825. Self-acting mule spinner patented in England, by Roberts. Same
year the tube frame introduced there from America.
1826. First exports of American cotton manufactured to any considerable
value.
44G APPENDIX.
1830. Mr. Dyer introduces a machine from the United States into Eng-
land, to make cards.
1831. Calico Printing much improved in the United States.
1834. A patent for an improved spindle, by Charles Jackson, Esq. Provi-
dence R. I.
1835. April 20. '' Died at Webster, Massachusetts, aged 67, Samuel Sla-
ter, long known as an enterprising and respected citizen of Rhode Island,
and the father of the cotton manufacturing business in this country, in which
he acquired a great estate. The first cotton manufactory in the United
States, was built by Mr. Slater, at Pawtucket R. I., which was standing and
in operation at the time of his death." — American Almanac.
1836. One hundred and twenty millions of yards of calico printed in the
United States, during the year ending April 1, 1836.
INDIANS.
Their arts and manufactures were confined to the construction of wig-
wams, bows and arrows, wampum, ornaments, stone hatchets, mortars for
pounding com, to the dressing of skins, weaving of coarse mats from the bark
of trees, or a coarse sort of hemp, &c. In summer, they wore little besides
a covering about the waist ; but in winter, they clothed themselves in the
skins of wild beasts. For habitations, the Indians had wigwams. These
consbted of a strong pole erected in the centre, around which, at the dis-
tance of ten or twelve feet, other poles were driven obliquely into the ground,
and fastened to the centre pole at the top. Their coverings were of mats or
bark of trees, so well adjusted as to render them dry and comfortable. Their
domestic utensils extended not beyond a hatchet of stone, a few shells, and
sharp stones which they used for knives, stone mortars for pounding corn,
and some mats and skins upon which they sl^pt They sat, and ate, and
lodged, on the ground.
1678. The colonists during this period, being chiefly occupied in gaining
a subsistence, and in protecting themselves against their enemies, had occa-
sion for few articles beyond the necessaries and comforts of life. Arts and
manufactures could, therefore, receive but little encouragement, beyond the
construction of such articles, and even those were principally imported.
In 1620, one hundred and fifty persons came out to Virginia to carry on
the manufacture of silks, iron, potash, tar, pitch, glass, salt, dbc. but they did
not succeed. In 1673, Chalmer says of New England, " There be five iron
works which cast no guns, no house in New England has above twenty rooms
— not twenty in Boston have ten. rooms each. All cordage, sailcloth, and
mats, come from England — no cloth made there of any value — no alum, no
copperas, no salt made by their sun. The first buildings of the settlers were
made of logs and thatched, or were built of stone. Brick and framed houses
were soon built in the larger towns ; the frames and brick were, however, in
some instances imported. The first mill in New England was a windmill,
near Watertown, but it was taken down in 1632 and placed in the vicinity
of Boston. Water mills began to be erected the next year. The first thing
printed was the freeman's oath, the second an almanack, and the third an
edition of the psalms. The bible was printed at Cambridge in 1664, trans-
lated into the Indian language. Notwithstanding the obstacles interposed
INDIAN MANUFACTURES. 447
by Great Biitaia to the progress of arts and manofactures, the coarser kinds
of cutlery, some coarse cloths, both linen and woollen, hats, paper, shoes,
household furniture, farming utensils, &c. were manufactured on a small
scale, but not sufficient to supply the inhabitants ; cloths were made in some
families for their own consumption. In 1700, which was the time of the
commencement of the first newspaper, there was but a moderate advance
for some years. The trade with England during the revolutionary war
being interrupted, the people were compelled to manufacture for themselves.
Encouragement was given to all necessary manufactures, and the zeal,
ingenuity, and industry of the people, furnished the country with articles of
prime necessity, and in a measure, supplied the place of a foreign market.
Such was the progress in arts and manufactures, that after the return of
peace, when an uninterrupted inteicourse with England was again opened,
some articles, which before were imported altogether, were found so well
and so abundantly manufactured at home, that their importation was stopped,
and arts and manufactures attracted the attention of government. A.
Hamilton, secretary of the treasury, made a report to congress on the sub-
ject, in which he set forth their importance to the country, and urged the
policy of aiding them. Since that time the revenue laws have been framed
with a view to the encouragement of manufactures, and their promotion has
been considered as a part of the settled policy of the United States. Although
the flourishing state of commeice attracted the attention, and absorbed the
capital of the country in some degree to the exclusion of other subjects, still
manufactures began to progress.
Prom HallarrCs History of the Middle Ages,
The condition of internal trade was hardly preferable to that of agricul-
ture, which was wretched. There is not a vestige perhaps to be discovered
for several centuries of any considerable manufacture; I mean, of working
up articles of common utility, to an extent beyond what the necessities of
an adjacent neighbourhood required. Rich men kept domestic artisans
among their servants ; even kings, in the ninth century, had their clothes
made by women upon their farms. The only mention of a manufacture, as
early as the ninth or tenth centuries, is what Schmidt says, that cloths were
then exported from Friseland to England and other parts. Venice took the
lead in trading with Greece and more eastern countries. Amalfi had the
second place in the commerce of those dark ages ; the fine cloths of Constanti-
nople were imported. It is an humiliating proof of the degradation of
Christendom, that the Venetians were reduced to purchase the luxuries of
Asia, by supplying the slave-market of the Saracens.
Netherlands, coasts of France, Germany, Scandinavia, and the maritime
districts of England, were first animated by the woollen manufacture of
Flanders. It is not easy either to discover the early beginnings of this or to
account for its rapid advancement. Several testimonies to the flourishing
condition of Flemish manufactures occur in the twelfth century, and even
earlier. A writer of the thirteenth century asserts, that all the world was
clothed from English wool wrought in Flanders ; they were probably sold
wherever navigation permitted them to be carried. Flanders was a market
for the traders of all the world. England soon began to share in the trade.
■s
448 APPENDIX.
The History of Norfolk speaks of a colony of Flemings settling as early as
the reign of Henry II. at Worstedy and immortalised its name by their manu-
factures. There were several guilds of weavers during the reign of Henry II.
Edward III. may almost be called the father of English commerce, a title
more glorious than hero of Cressy. In 1331 he invited the manufacturers of
Flanders into his dominions. They brought the finer manufacture of woollen
cloths wUch had been unknown in England. Commerce became a leading
object with parliament There were inducements held out to the Flemings :
" Here they should feed on fat beef and mutton, till nothing but their fulness
should stint their stomachs ; their bed should be good, and their bed-fellows
better, seeing the richest yeomen in England would not disdain to marry
their daughters unto them, and such the English beauties, that the most
envious foreigners could not but commend them."
THE END.
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